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PRIMARY HEALTH CARE RESEARCH EVALUATION DEVELOPMENT (PHCRED) - National
The Commonwealth Department of Health & Ageing (DoHA) developed and initiated the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) strategy in all states, in consultation with the General Practice Partnership Advisory Council. The funding was to support University Departments of Rural Health and University Departments of General Practice to increase the pool of trained researchers and evaluators in order to contribute to innovative research in a variety of appropriate or targeted primary health care settings.

Phase One of the funding covered the period 2000-2005 and was used to support a number of elements that aimed to improve Australia’s capacity to produce high quality primary health care research by expanding the existing primary health care research workforce.

Key Elements of the National PHC RED strategy

In July 2005, after considering the findings of an evaluation of Phase One, the Minister for Health and Ageing endorsed the continuation of the Strategy for another four years (2006-2009) with the following goals:

• Provide an expanded pool of primary health care researchers;

• Conduct more research relevant to practice and policy; and

• Develop well informed primary health practice and policy, in collaboration with other relevant organisations.

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE RESEARCH EVALUATION DEVELOPMENT (PHCRED) – Northern Territory (NT)

In the NT, the Centre for Remote Health (CRH) based in Alice Springs was successful in attracting funding for both Phases. The funding strengthened and was consistent with the CRH's strategic direction and research priority areas in primary health care research.

The NT PHCRED, following initial consultation with various stakeholders, identified gaps in research capacity and developed our local strategic directions for Phase One. These were:

1. Strengthening Territory-wide collaborative research efforts in primary health care among research organizations and between practitioners and researchers.

2. Enhancing the capacity of primary health care practitioners and organisations for research and evaluation.

3. Building the capacity of primary health care providers and the research community to design and evaluate models of PHC that take into account the social determinants of disease (social epidemiology).

These strategic directions remain relevant for the work of PHCRED NT, but three objectives were identified for Phase Two:

1. To increase the pool of primary health care researchers by up-skilling early-mid career researchers, and supporting sustainable advancement of research careers in primary health care;

2. To support early-mid career researchers to undertake more high quality primary health care research and ensure its relevance to police and practice by aligning it with identified needs and priorities; and

3. To disseminate and facilitate the uptake of evidence in policy and practice.

The people employed through the PHCRED program work closely with other organizations directly involved with primary health care research and/or providers. They are:

• Tahnia Edwards, Indigenous Research Fellow

• Christine Clarence, Research Advisor (based in Katherine)

• Karen Piper, Research Advisor (based in Darwin)

• Anita Curtis, Research Development Placement

• Ricky Mentha, Research Development Placement

One of the major strategies has been in the area of research transfer with the aim of increasing two-way communication about health between consumers, researchers and practitioners.
Available on the web is the Primary Health Care Enewsletter both current and back issues.