August 22, 2014
UOW plays host to Vietnamese clinicians
UOW has played host to a party of 15 Vietnamese rehabilitation clinicians as part of an Australian Leadership Award Fellowship Program spearheaded by UOW Senior Research Fellow, Frances Simmonds and her colleague Jacqui Capell.
The delegates, representing the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, include medical, nursing and allied health directors and heads of department in adult and paediatric rehabilitation facilities across Vietnam.
Titled ‘Developing Best Practice Rehabilitation Services in Vietnam’, the Director of UOW’s Australasian Rehabilitation Outcomes Centre (AROC), Frances Simmonds, said the study tour funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade aimed to provide the Vietnamese visitors with insights into the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of Australian rehabilitation services.
The objective has been to provide them with important knowledge, models, care systems and development strategies, enabling them to facilitate effective reforms of Vietnam’s rehabilitation services over the coming decade.
Vietnam has had one of the highest rates of people with disabilities (15.3%) in Asia for many years. Despite its economic success, Vietnam struggles to plan, resource and provide quality rehabilitation healthcare for its eight million plus people with disabilities, including 1.1 million children.
Disabilities and long-term injuries are most prominent in rural areas where accessibility to specialised healthcare, social services, training, and employment options is severely limited. Rural people with disabilities often struggle to make a livelihood, making them almost entirely dependent upon family for financial and physical support.
The group started their three-week tour on 18 August with an intensive two-day introduction to the Australian health system and rehabilitation policy and service delivery in Australia.
They then ‘hit the road’ to visit rehabilitation services in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as meeting with officials from the NSW Ministry of Health, the Victorian Department of Health, and National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Their tour will conclude back in Sydney on 5 September with the group presenting their learning and plans for what they intend to undertake back in Vietnam.