Ballarat Health Services will deliver enhanced healthcare at home for older people in rural and regional Western Victoria through a project in partnership with the Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre (Western Alliance).

The Western Alliance project, called DELIVER, was awarded a $9 million research project grant through the Federal Government Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). Led by Western Alliance in partnership with healthcare consumers, regional and rural health services, universities and primary healthcare providers across western Victoria, the project will identify and build a suite of programs to improve and extend in-home healthcare.

Ballarat Health Services Executive Director Primary and Community Care Craig Wilding said the project would help improve health outcomes for older people across the Grampians region.

“Care at home benefits us all, with patients feeling more comfortable in their own environment, families not having to travel to hospital to visit, and more hospital beds available for higher-acuity patients,” Mr Wilding said. “This project is a natural extension of our Grampians and BHS at Home programs, which provides our patients with a highly qualified health care team and is a valuable alternative to traditional hospital admissions.

“We’re continually reminding our community of the importance of preventative health measures and having issues or concerns looked at to avoid becoming seriously ill or needing to visit the Emergency Department, and this project will explore additional ways that we can help provide care and remotely monitor patients in their own homes.”

The project aims to improve health outcomes for older Australians in rural areas with feasibility-tested interventions to improve the timeliness, accessibility to and integration of care. This should also result in fewer avoidable hospitalisations, and improved patient experience.

DELIVER Project Director Professor Anna Peeters is Director of the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University and Principal Research Translation Investigator at Western Alliance.

Professor Peeters said DELIVER would address key challenges to providing sustainable and effective Home-Based Care to older people in rural areas, initially in Western Victoria but with potential to deliver tested programs nationally.

“Australians living in rural, regional, and remote communities face unique challenges due to their geographic location,” Professor Peeters said. “Improving the care of older Australians will address the significant issue of 750,000 potentially avoidable hospitalisations a year in Australia. These rates increase with age and remoteness.

“Older people often have more complex health needs including frailty, multi-morbidity, and cognitive impairment, resulting in a higher need for care, and reduced capacity to access care, compounded in rural settings by large travel distances, variable infrastructure, and reduced availability of specialist care.

“For older people, healthcare delivered at home can reduce the large disparities in healthcare quality and outcomes experienced by rural populations, and address barriers such as geography and social structures that impact negatively on health service access.

“DELIVER aims to develop a streamlined process for rural healthcare providers to rapidly access and test relevant evidence to help them make decisions about which digital and non-digital solutions could be embedded into home-based care to improve service delivery, patient experience, and health outcomes for the communities they serve.

“Top priorities include improving care for people who frequently present to the Emergency Department, and improving Home Based Care, including cancer care at home,” Professor Peeters said.

The project will also build national clinical trial capacity in rural areas, which are traditionally underserved.

Associate Professor Anna Wong Shee is Chair of the Western Alliance Research Translation Committee and co-funded by Deakin University and Ballarat Health Services. Associate Professor Wong Shee was excited to have research that is led by rural health services.  “DELIVER will enable Western Victoria to grow our own clinician researchers who can engage with rural communities to address local health issues.”

Western Alliance project partners include:

• Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association
• Ballarat Health Services
• Barwon Health
• Beaufort and Skipton Health Service
• Central Highlands Rural Health
• Colac Area Health
• Consumers Health Forum of Australia
• Deakin Rural Health
• Deakin University
• East Grampians Health Service
• Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital
• Federation University Australia
• Maryborough District Health Service
• Melbourne Academic Centre for Health
• Monash Partners
• National Ageing Research Institute
• Rural Northwest Health
• South West Healthcare
• St John of God Health Care
• Stawell Regional Health
• Terang and Mortlake Health Service
• Victorian Collaborative Healthcare Recovery Initiative
• Victorian Department of Health
• West Wimmera Health Service
• Western District Health Service
• Western Victoria Primary Health Network
• Wimmera Health Care Group