A new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act for Victoria

Research Australia has responded to the Victorian Government’s proposal for a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act. We have proposed that it adopt the following as principles for service design and delivery:

    • New treatments and services are evaluated for their relative clinical and cost effectiveness and user acceptability, and where found to be more efficacious than existing treatments, are made available rapidly to all people who could benefit;
    • Existing treatments and services are evaluated for their relative clinical and cost effectiveness and user acceptability, and discontinued swiftly (and replaced) where they are proven to be less efficacious than alternative treatments;
    • Promoting the importance of research to achieving the best possible mental health and wellbeing;
    • Supporting people with lived experience, their families and carers, and the mental health workforce to co-design and participate in research;

Research Australia’s submission is available here.

Research to improve Aged Care quality

Counsel assisting the Aged Care Royal Commission have made their final submissions to the Commissioners, and the public has been given the opportunity to comment on the recommendations. This was the last chance for public input before the Commissioners provide their report to the Government in early 2021.

Research Australia has followed the progress of the Royal Commission closely. We urged the inclusion of research in the Commission’s original terms of reference and we have liaised with the Commission’s officers to connect them with researchers who were able to assist the Inquiry.

We have been pleased to see the reliance the Commission has placed on research to understand the current system and its failures as well as to explore alternatives. It is clear that research can play a critical part in improving the delivery of aged care services and in helping Australians to age well, and we have welcomed the prominence the final recommendations to the Commissioners give to research.

Research Australia’s response to the final submissions document is limited to two recommendations. Recommendation 55 deals with the creation of an Aged Care Research Council with a dedicated research budget. Recommendation 56 deals with creation of a minimum national aged care dataset and the availability of data to researchers. Finally, we have responded to the request for public response to remarks made by Commissioner Briggs in respect of Research and Data Governance.

Research Australia’s submission is available here.

Tackling Mental Illness with R&R: Research and Recovery

Media Release: Monday 7 November 2016

Last month, the 300th life was changed thanks to an Australian-first program which takes students and people with a lived experience of mental illness on a life changing adventure.

Recovery Camp brings together future health practitioners and people with serious mental illnesses through an immersive and innovative program.

Continue reading “Tackling Mental Illness with R&R: Research and Recovery”