About Us

The Health Services Research Group (HSRG) was established in 1988, and has carried out research onto how we can use the extensive health data sets available to us to inform policy makers on how to plan, fund and improve the quality of health care facilities. The areas covered include: developing resource allocation models, monitoring utilization of health care facilities and determining the future demand for acute hospital services, reporting on the measures of the quality of health care in Australia and providing software to monitor infection rates and bed availability.

Specific examples of HSRG research are the development of resource allocation models for NSW Health, Department of Aging, Disability and Home Care, and NSW BreastScreen. Projections for the demand for acute care services have been used extensively, including a volume in the Macklin Report and by NSW Health and the Area Health Services. In 2004, the projections for the number of dialysis patients to the year 2016 were prepared for NSW Health and are being used to plan for new services.

One of our major research interests is the study of quality in health care. Recently we have developed methods to analyse quality indicators for Australian hospitals and to provide support for improvement activities. This research is carried out in collaboration with the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards and the Quality Branch, NSW Health. Reports on the 'Patient Safety' indicators, the 'appropriateness' indicators and the ACHS clinical indicators have been provided.

The design and statistical analysis for the Quality in Australian Health Care Study, which represents the first major report on the epidemiology of errors in medicine in Australian acute care hospitals was carried out through HSRG. HSRG staff work with Bob Gibberd and the Discipline of Quality and Patient Safety to teach and provide material for the Under-Graduate medical course 'The Measurement and Management of Quality in Health Care' and the Post-Graduate course in 'Quality Improvement in Health Care'.

HSRG Staff

• Robert Gibberd
• Stephen Hancock
• Adam Martin
• Xenia Gore
• Garry Eckstein

Associated Staff

• Allan Spigelman
• David Sibbritt
• Peter Howley
• Ashley Kable
• Kerry Inder
• Rhonda Walker
• Natalie Johnson

POSITIVE AGEING - Something to Sing About

The Australian Association of Gerontology NSW Division and Hunter Chapter Presents POSITIVE AGEING - Something to Sing About.
23-24 March 2006 at Tamworth NSW.

Program attached

The Hunter Community Study

By 2016 it is projected that 16% of the Australian population will be 65 years and over and 4% will be aged 80 and over. Accordinly, ageing has been recognised as a priority research area by the Commonwealth and designated a strategic area by the NHMRC. The National Review of Healthy Ageing Research in Australia points out that Australia lacks the kind of comprehensive longitudinal study that underpins research in Europe and North America. A major problem with current research efforts in...

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