Hammond Innovations launches to tackle sector’s challenges

HammondCare is bringing together the resources of The Dementia Centre, The Palliative Centre and The Centre for Positive Ageing to form Hammond Innovations to reimagine dementia, palliative and complex care.

It will operate around the IDEA Hub – which stands for insight, design, evidence and action and aims to identify urgent problems, test solutions and scale what works. It also involves partnerships with technology, universities, philanthropic organisations and other providers. And all aged care stakeholders can share their ideas and collaborate via the hub.

Hammond Innovations “will take burning questions and bright ideas, then test, refine and apply them to create insights that transform care,” said HammondCare chief executive officer Andrew Thorburn. 

At the heart of the initiative is the people receiving this care, Mr Thorburn told a breakfast launch event on the sidelines of the Ageing Australia National Conference 2025 on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.

He also introduced experienced health innovator Dr Anna Barker, who will lead the initiative and join the HammondCare leadership team as the executive general manager of Hammond Innovations.

Dr Barker’s accomplishments as an executive leader and board director and her 20 years’ experience in healthcare, aged care and research innovation make her an outstanding appointment, said Mr Thorburn.

Speaking to Community Care Review ahead of the launch, Dr Barker said she was excited about this role because it was an opportunity to transform dementia, palliative and complex care.

“There’s been so much brilliant work done across the sector – across providers, universities, researchers and also technology businesses and innovators – and all of them have been creating these wonderful little pockets of great, great ideas.

“But there hasn’t been a collective, unified approach to how we can leverage all of that brilliant knowledge and expertise and bring it together to really make a bigger impact, which is what we intend to do with Hammond Innovations,” Dr Barker told CCR.

She stressed the initiative was about delivering real-world solutions to the sector challenges including workforce shortages, preventable harms, rising costs and administrative burden.

“We want to respond to this with solutions through a provider-led innovation model – not just research that is too slow or pilots that are too narrow – that is technology inspired and makes use of innovation pathways to move from problem to product with speed, agility and scale,” said Dr Barker, who has a PhD in geriatrics and a master’s in geriatric physiotherapy.

At the launch, Dr Barker shared her top three priorities:

• developing new ways to support older people and their caregivers
• improving built environments
• supporting care practitioners with practical digital tools.

“We want to deliver what matters most – happier, healthier days for older Australians with more nights on their own pillows. For care practitioners, we want more hands held and fewer pens pushed,” Dr Barker said.

She also invited her colleagues Associate Professor Steve Macfarlane, head of clinical services, Dr Tom Morris, director of dementia research programs and data analytics and Professor Josephine Clayton, director of palliative care, research and development, to join her on stage to discuss the work and vision of Hammond Innovations, including the research work underway and outlined in the organisation’s Research Report 2024.

They encouraged stakeholders to submit their bright ideas and the burning problems they want solved via the hub’s website.

“Put up your hands, work with us in the IDEA hub and help us come up with the practical solutions. And donate as well, because part of what we’re doing here will be funded by philanthropy and fundraising to help us move forward and put resources behind everything that we want to do,” Dr Barker told CCR.

Follow Community Care Review on Facebook and LinkedIn and sign up to our newsletter.