From the Journal Associates Rural and remote research: Supporting the heart and soul of Australia In opening the 5th Rural and Remote Health Scientific Symposium, the Assistant Minister for Rural Health, the Hon Dr David Gillespie MP, noted that much of the heart and soul and sense of what we as Australians are, comes out of rural and remote areas. He acknowledged that the collective experience of health practitioners, science and policy makers is vital in supporting government efforts to direct policy and funding to the areas where it can provide the most impactful outcomes. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health was prominent. Research supporting new ways of incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and understanding of health and well-being into mainstream health policy and programs was presented. Speakers emphasised the importance of involving local people in research, policy development and implementation. The influence of social determinants – e.g. racism and practice of culture – in the development of poor and good health outcomes was also highlighted. Workforce expectations and supply were highlighted as critical elements of service response across all health sectors, with dentistry receiving particular attention. Physical and workplace safety of health workers in isolated settings and research on impacts of alternative service delivery models including aero-medical programs were also featured. Some of the key challenges put to attendees were: 1. To consider innovative models of delivering primary health care services to small remote communities, including careful consideration of the types of services required and how to implement these in a sustainable, stable way to ensure ongoing health services. 2. To ensure that research projects focussed on achieving sustainable outcomes that have practical and long-term benefits. 3. To develop holistic approaches to meet the rising challenge of mental health care needs. The Commissioner for Mental Health Care, Mr David Butt, noted that the mental health reforms are
doi: 10.1111/ajr.12344
closely linked to the developing influence of Primary Health Networks and promise of effective integration with other health sector reforms such as Health Care Homes. He suggested that this model enables good outcomes when local decisions are made by local people. Emerging themes included discussion on how increased focus on finer-scale reporting of data provides new information to researchers and policy makers that can enable better targeting of health services to identified areas of need. Data linkage work is also improving, and can be used to inform topics such as patterns of health care service use, quality and safety of services, risks to particular patient cohorts and management of chronic disease. Representatives from Australia’s key data agencies, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), provided information around a number of the new linked national datasets, including the Mental Health Services – Census Data Integration project and the MultiAgency Data Integration Project. Future integration of these valuable data sources with data available from the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), together with data available from Primary Health Network and hospital performance reporting included through the MyHealthyCommunities and MyHospitals websites, offer exciting prospects for future development. The promise of data to support small area decisionmaking will enable health service planners to focus on addressing local needs, making strong contributions to the delivery of reforms in mental health and in primary health care. (Symposium proceedings are available at: http:// www.ruralhealth.org.au/symposium2016/) Fiona Brooke Senior Policy Adviser
Representatives from Australia's key data agencies,. the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Aus- tralian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), pro- ...
