A partnership has been formed to improve the standard of aged-care in Australia.

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and Anglicare Southern Queensland will collaborate in the effort to improve the standard of care for the elderly through evidence-based research.

The goal is to insert highly-trained researchers into the Anglicare personnel, hopefully leading to a change in research culture and leadership in the aged-care arena. A project called ‘Aged Care Community Education Research Training’ (ACCERT) has been given $665,000 in funds from the Department of Health and Ageing. USQ and Anglicare will now begin working together to develop research techniques, auditing staff compliance, management practices, care standards and leadership attributes.

Chief investigator from USQ Dr Clint Moloney says: “We will be offering six Anglicare staff positions as research fellows, in partnership with the Johanna Briggs Institute, who will work on six key evidence implementation priorities and later form their own research utilisation centre in Anglicare. From there we have five trial sites to implement the research fellow projects and if successful, we anticipate a ripple effect throughout other Anglicare facilities.”

The relationship will be two-directional, with USQ to offer post-grad opportunities to Anglicare staff to develop their skills. The initiative is part of initiatives by the university’s Digital Futures Institute.