Our work

The Australian Government is ensuring RATs are available to the people who need them most, including people in aged care, Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health services, GP-led respiratory clinics, and supported independent living services.

The Rapid Applied Research Translation initiative will provide $228 million over 10 years from 2022-23 to support the translation of evidence (through research) into clinical practice.

Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Need Clinical Trials has been consolidated into the Clinical Trials Activity initiative under the MRFF 10-year Investment Plan.

We are trialling reablement care approaches among CHSP providers in selected regions. The trial will give us a better idea of how these approaches help senior Australians stay independent for longer. Find out how it affects CHSP providers.

The Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) Support Loan Program provides zero interest loans to eligible residential aged care providers. Applications closed on 30 June 2022.

SDAP provides free professional support to aged care service providers located in remote areas or who provide care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It aims to help providers in 3 main areas – provider capacity and support, sector development and infrastructure project management.

The Remote Area Health Corps funds health professionals to practise in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory for short-term paid placements of 3 to 12 weeks. This includes general practitioners, registered nurses, dentists, dental therapists, dental assistants and audiologists.

The Remote Vocational Training Scheme delivers structured distance education and supervision to doctors while they provide general medical services in a remote or isolated community. The 4-year program meets the requirements for fellowship of both ACRRM and RACGP.

The Research Data Infrastructure initiative will provide $100 million over 10 years from 2022–23. It will fund the creation or extension of national research data infrastructure with a focus on data registries, biobanks and data linkage platforms to support Australian medical research.

The Researcher Exchange and Development within Industry initiative will provide $4 million in 2022-23 to provide researchers with industry placements, mentoring and exchange programs.

Residential aged care is for senior Australians who can no longer live independently at home. The Australian Government funds residential aged care to make it more affordable and accessible.

These programs help to minimise adverse medicine events for people living in approved Australian Government-funded aged care facilities. Pharmacists visit patients in facilities to identify, resolve, and prevent medication-related problems.

The National Return and Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Project enables consumers to return unwanted or out-of-date medicines to any pharmacy to be destroyed. This helps to avoid accidental childhood poisoning, medication misuse and toxic releases into the environment.

In 2018, we commissioned a review to advise and recommend possible enhancements to guide the men’s shed movement in Australia, and Australian Government funding to the men’s shed movement.

We are implementing several initiatives based on recommendations from the Roadmap for Hearing Health. These will raise awareness of hearing health, build our evidence base, improve ear health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and improve hearing support among older Australians.

We have funded the Royal Flying Doctor Service program since the 1930s. It provides emergency aeromedical evacuation services, medical consultations and supplies, and dental and mental health outreach services to rural and remote Australia. This program is part of the Stronger Rural Health Strategy.

The Rural Bulk Billing Incentives will pay higher benefits to regional, rural and remote doctors to bulk bill children and people with a concession card. This makes it more viable for doctors to work in those areas and makes health care more affordable.

The RHMT program offers health students the opportunity to train in rural and remote communities via a network of training facilities. It aims to improve the recruitment and retention of medical, nursing, dental and allied health professionals in rural and remote Australia.

The Rural Health Outreach Fund (RHOF) supports outreach initiatives that improve access to medical specialists, general practitioners (GPs) and allied and other health providers in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia.

The Rural Health Workforce Support Activity (RHWSA) program aims to meet current and future regional, rural and remote community health workforce needs through workforce planning.

Rural LAP provides locums so that rural health professionals can attend continuing professional development or take vacation leave. The program also funds GPs to do extra training so they can become rural locums.

The RPGP helps cover the cost of professional development for procedural general practitioners (GPs) who work in rural and remote areas. This ensures people who live in rural and remote areas have access to highly qualified health professionals.

The deliberate release of harmful biological agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi and toxins) can cause significant damage to human health, the environment and the Australian economy. This scheme helps us manage the security of SSBAs and aims to limit the occurrence of acts of bioterrorism or biocrime.

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) is helping to reduce abuse and neglect in Australian Government-subsidised aged care. The SIRS builds the skills of providers, so they can better support older Australians receiving aged care services.