An expanded partnership between Flinders University’s Caring Futures Institute and Adelaide Primary Health Network (PHN) addresses a longstanding challenge – how to better connect academic research with real-world healthcare delivery.

Through embedding researchers within Adelaide PHN projects, the partnership ensures that evidence-based approaches are co-designed and actively shape how healthcare is delivered in the community.

The partnership builds on an earlier three-year joint-position that Flinders’ Professor Stacey George held, to build strategic and partnership agreements between Flinders and Adelaide PHN. Through this, Professor George’s research on integration attracted international recognition, having been presented at the International Conference on Integrated Care in Lisbon, and featured as an invited keynote presentation at the Long Term Care Conference in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

“The Primary Health Network is a commissioning agency, which enacts Commonwealth health policies and then commissions services to ensure their best delivery – and the relationship with Flinders Caring Futures Institute has helped maximise the success of these outcomes,” says Professor George.

“Our research focuses on improving care for vulnerable populations, including older adults and people living with chronic conditions – and we have been able to build strong evaluation frameworks of the services delivered to these populations.

“Now the co-designs of these approaches are being extended – to identify what factors will help the uptake of successful policies, to ensure good outcomes.”

The success of this partnership initiative was expanded in April 2025, to include three Flinders researchers in three-year joint positions that are embedded across both the Caring Futures Institute and Adelaide PHN. Professor George leads the partnership as Professor of Primary Care and System Integration, Dr Heather Block is a Research Fellow in Primary Care and System Integration, and Shenelle Fernando is a Senior Research Officer in Primary Care and System Integration.

This expanded partnership engages with a broader range of stakeholders to include primary care providers, local councils, community organisations, consumers and other stakeholders across the health system in initiatives that are designed to improve care delivery and patient outcomes.

“Commonwealth departments are requesting more data around people’s experiences and their outcomes, particularly regarding quality of life – because these programs are designed as the conduit to improve the circumstances of people needing health care, and this will happen through effective services that are commissioned nationally but adapted locally.”

Of particular focus is ensuring access and equity for vulnerable people, and good evaluation of existing health programs will help identify where gaps exist. “It’s important for us to assess feedback from consumers of what works well and what doesn’t,” says Professor George. “It benefits not only patients in primary care, it also informs practitioners about how to best meet the needs of the people they are serving.

“It promotes better integration across patient care settings, and will help to streamline patient journeys and reduce fragmentation.”

The first project co-designed by Caring Futures Institute and Adelaide PHN involved early intervention initiatives to support healthy ageing in primary care – especially through identifying frailty and providing quality care that addresses frailty.

Initially a collaboration with 10 general practices, this initiative has evolved to include a further 16 general practices, to identify and support chronic health conditions (including frailty) for older people. So far, it has measured the outcomes of more than 500 general practice patients, building a strong platform of cooperation, trust and collaboration between those involved that is now being extended into different areas.

Another valuable project is Prescriptions for Connection, a social prescribing program that involves general practices being able to identify and refer lonely, socially isolated patients to social activities and connection. It’s a program facilitated by Port Adelaide Enfield, Walkerville and Prospect Councils, and is funded by the Northern Community Health and Research Foundation and the Hospital Research Foundation.

Other collaborative research projects include investigating older people’s best experiences in primary care that will help inform ideal future care commissioning; promoting primary care access in aged care, and improved integration of chronic disease services and disability services with general practices.

“We know there is fragmentation between services, that information is sometimes not shared and that people’s experiences are not so good as they move between different systems – but we want to ensure better connections between clients and services, to avoid repetition and to get the best possible results,” says Professor George.

“There are a lot of needs – but also a lot of services in the community, and we make sure they are connecting well, getting the right services to the right people. We believe our work can provide positive solutions that we can test and evaluate, that are tailored to specific needs.”