Australia’s first Partnership Centre will focus on for better dementia outcomes with the theme of ‘Dealing with Cognitive and Related Functional Decline in the Elderly’.

 

Funding of up to $5 million per year over the next five years is being provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Alzheimer’s Australia, Brightwater Care Group, HammondCare Group and Helping Hand Aged Care for the new Partnership Centre.

 

The Partnership Centre will draw on multiple professions and disciplines such as health services and public health policy research, sociology, economics, psychology and clinical practise expertise to improve clinical interventions, social care and community support for dementia and related functional decline.

 

A call for a cross jurisdictional investigator team to undertake the work plan of the first centre has been made.  The team will consist of both researchers and those working in the health system, and its core focus will be on investigating supportive care in the home, the community and long-term care institutions.

 

The investigator team for the first centre will be announced in the first half of 2012. Across Australia, six partnership centres will be funded to tackle key health priorities.

 

More information about Partnership Centres is available here