Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo

School of Primary Health Care opens

21 May 2008

Professor Leon Piterman and Victorian Health Minister Daniel Andrews officially opened the new premises for the School of Primary Health Care.

Monash University's School of Primary Health Care, the first of its kind in Australia, officially opened its new premises last week.

The School, located in Ferntree Gully Road at Notting Hill, adjacent to Monash University's Clayton campus, was the first of its kind to combine a range of primary health care disciplines when it was established in 2001.

The School was officially opened by Victorian Health Minister Daniel Andrews.

Head of the School Professor Leon Piterman said the aim of creating the school was to integrate a group of disciplines that shared the common purpose of providing teaching, training and research to support professional development, and to create a training environment that reflected the changing needs of society.

"Health care today is very different to decades ago when the GP was a one-stop-shop for most patients. Today, healthcare professionals are skilled in a range of services and patients' illness is better able to be managed by a range of specialists," Professor Piterman said.

"The strength of any health system is judged by the effectiveness of its delivery of primary care. That delivery is not vested with a single discipline, but rather with a number of disciplines working together with the common aim of effectively treating and supporting individuals, families and communities with their medical, psychological and social needs.

"This is particularly important in our ageing society in which chronic disease provides the predominant burden of illness and where most of the care for people with chronic disease is community-based."

The School of Primary Health Care is home to a range of Monash University Departments including General Practice, Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Health Science, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy and Social Work. It is also home to the Primary Care Research Unit, Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria, Centre for Child Abuse Research Australia, Collaborative Centre for Gambling Research, Multicultural Health Unit and Primary Care Obesity Research Unit.