On November 22, the Caring Futures Institute hosted our “Care Ambition 2030” conference to great success. With a focus on ‘forging partnerships for a better future’, the Caring Futures Institute team were proud to showcase our innovative projects across aged care, disability and community inclusion, midwifery, and community health and the arts.

Many industry and community representatives, including health carers and decision-makers, attended in-person, with others connecting online. Attendees enjoyed a variety of inspiring, engaging speeches from our researchers and guest speakers, which lead to thought-provoking discussion about the opportunities we have to continue to build a better future in health and care. 

Hosted by Julie McCrossin AM, the conference was opened with a Welcome to Country by Frank Wangutya Wanganeen, followed by a welcome by Professor Colin Stirling (President and Vice-Chancellor, Flinders University), who discussed the success of the College’s research initiatives, and Sarah Andrews MP (South Australian State Member for Gibson), who spoke about the future of health care in South Australia. Dr Ben Bravery delivered an inspiring, engaging speech on his experiences with health care in Australia, both as a patient and medical student.

 

 

Professor Alison Kitson (Vice President and Executive Dean, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University), delivered a keynote speech about how we rethink self-care, caring, and caring solutions for all, while Professor Rebecca Golley (Deputy Director and Better Lives Theme Lead, Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University) discussed Care Ambition 2030: the roadmap to a caring future.

Partnership conversations were presented by various Caring Futures Institute researchers and partnership representatives, including:

Lining Up The Ducks: Professor Sue Gordon (Research Director and Workforce Capability Lead, ARIIA and Caring Futures Institute) and Ivy Diegmann (General Manager, Service Design, ACH Group)

The Pinnaroo Project: Sara Noonan (Research Associate, Caring Futures Institute) and Julie Wallis and Deb Colwill (Pinnaroo Project community members)

Stronger together: research co-design in sensitive topics: Professor Sally Robinson (Professor of Disability and Community Inclusion, Caring Futures Institute) and Jala Burton (Community researcher, Flinders University)

A partnership between Wellbeing SA and Flinders University to support parents and caregivers in the early years: Dr Sarah Hunter (Research Fellow, A Healthy Start to Life, Flinders University) and Dr Natasha Schranz (Early Years, Children and Young People, Health Promotion Branch, Prevention and Population Health Directorate, Wellbeing SA)

Growing innovation through partnership: Flinders and NALHN working together for change: Professor Annette Briley (Women’s Health and Midwifery Research, Caring Futures Institute) and Meredith Hobbs (Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Clinical Governance and Risk Service, Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN)

Building partnerships to improve and innovate in rehabilitation, aged and palliative care — a vision for world-class service: Professor Gillian Harvey (Matthew Flinders Fellow, Theme Lead: Better Systems) and Petra Bierer (Acting Co-Director, Division of Rehabilitation, Aged and Palliative Care at Southern Adelaide Health Network (SALHN)

 

 

 

 

A collaborative panel discussion identifying the next steps to forge partnerships for a better future featured Lesley Dwyer (Chief Executive Officer, Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN), Annette McGrath (Consumer Representative/Investigator, Stroke Rehabilitation Project), Mary Patetsos (Chairperson, Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, and ACH Group), Professor Julie Ratcliffe (Matthew Flinders Professor of Health Economics, President: Australian Health Economics Society and Theme Lead: Health and Social Care Economics, Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University), Tom Symonds (Chair of Board, Adelaide Public Health Network (APHN) – Government-Community-Industry partnership facilitator) and Professor Raymond Chan (Director, Caring Futures Institute).

Professor Alison Kitson said, “Our ambition is for every person to know that the care they get is as awesome as the medical excellence that treats their diseases. We should never think that we have to choose between medical excellence and care excellence – we need both and that’s what our future vision will deliver.”

Dr Ben Bravery said, “Providing quality care is about taking the perspective of people around you — coming back to a core set of questions around dignity and agency and respect, and actively grounding yourself prior to each patient interaction.”

The Caring Futures Institute team would like to thank all who attended and are excited for the next steps in our Care Ambition journey.

We will make the Conference sessions available on the Caring Futures Institute website shortly.