Plenary Health awards innovation and research in the west

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Plenary is supporting innovation and research to improve health equity in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

The $10,000 Plenary Health Innovation Grant was announced at the Western Health’s Research Week awards and presented to Frances Ampt, Lead Epidemiologist at the Western Public Health Unit.

Led by Ms Ampt, the grant will help explore Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme data to understand sexual reproductive health treatment to inform service redesign aimed at reducing inequities in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Now in its second year, the grant is part of Plenary Health’s five-year partnership with Western Health Foundation aligning with the delivery of the New Footscray Hospital Project.

Attending the Research Week Awards ceremony, New Footscray Hospital Project Chair Kelvyn Lavelle said Plenary Health were thrilled to present the grant and acknowledge innovation at Western Health.

“Congratulations to Frances and her colleagues in the Western Public Health Unit on their work and innovative approaches to improving health outcomes in the West,” Mr Lavelle said. 

“We’re proud to contribute to Western Health and support researchers investigating health challenges that will change the lives of vulnerable populations in the western suburbs.”

Western Health Research Program Director Bill Karanatsios said: “The Plenary Health Innovation Grant will help address a very important and poorly understood unmet need impacting an underserved population in our catchment.

“The project will help us better appreciate how we can redesign our services to reduce inequities in health outcomes and improve access to essential reproductive health interventions for women experiencing social disadvantage.”

Plenary Health’s overall partnership with Western Health via the Western Health Foundation is worth more than $300,000 over five years and is supporting post graduate nursing scholarships in key clinical services, staff research grants, events and other in-kind support.

The new Footscray Hospital, currently under construction on the corner of Ballarat and Geelong roads, is set to open in 2025.

It is being delivered by the Plenary Health consortium, in partnership with the Victorian Health Building Authority and Western Health.