Governance Structure
The Adelaide Health Policy Department functions and operates within the structure of the Department of Public Health & Primary Care, TCD and also under the control of the Board of Governors of the AHF.
Conferences and Roundtables
The Adelaide Health Policy Department, in conjunction with the Jesuits Centre for Faith and Justice has hosted a major public conference and two successful Roundtable meetings. The public conference in the Croke Park Conference Centre attracted over 160 participants and was addressed by the Minister for Health and the Minister of State for Primary Care. The Conference was most successful in engaging a wide range of stakeholders and interested organisations in the reform process now underway.
A number of Roundtable meetings have occurred to date with invited attendees from health policy, academia, clinicians, charities and NGO’s. Topics have included the merits of the Governments policy choices for healthcare reform and an assessment of the progress relating to the implementation of reform, the perceived readiness of primary care to deliver effective chronic disease management and the evidence relating to financing reform model options that underpin universal health insurance. This forum has proved to be very effective for concretising collaborative relationships and has received very positive feedback from those who attended.
There is symbiotic relationship to output and impact of any organisation trying to influence change, however there are differences in these two areas. Outputs of the AHPI can include published papers, conference contributions, books, and teaching materials. Impact can be measured in healthcare such as improvements in patient or public health outcomes, raised public awareness of a health risk or a health policy issue. The AHPI can also impact on the wider societal issues relating to health by impacting on the political environment and facilitating better health policy debate and health planning decisions.