On 26th October 2016, we were delighted to have The Honourable Leeanne Enoch MP,Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business to launch the Advancing Cerebral Palsy in Queensland partnership program at the UQ Centre for Children’s Health Research. This program is funded by the Queensland government's Advance Queensland Innovation Partnerships (AQIP) scheme.
Minister Enoch launched the $1.5M program which will improve early detection of Cerebral Palsy (CP) across Queensland, through state-wide training in the General Movements Assessment (GMs), developing clinical and radiological biomarkers for earlier detection of risk of CP in infants born preterm and in high risk term- born infants. The team at the UQ’s Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, Perinatal Research Centre, Centre for On-line Health with partners at the Australian E-Health Research, CSIRO; Children’s Health Queensland and Health Economics at Griffith University were co-funded by the Merchant Charitable Foundation through the Children’s Health Foundation.
State of the art very early brain imaging using the two MRI compatible incubators at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital and the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital, with clinical biomarkers will improve the early detection of CP from the current delayed detection of on-average 19 months of age. Infants identified at “high risk of Cerebral Palsy” will be fast tracked to clinical trials of early Neuro-rehabilitation (REACH) and a Parenting program incorporating Acceptance and Commitment therapy (PACT). Innovative digital solutions for screening and cloud based radiological reporting will be developed with the Australian e-Health Research Centre at CSIRO, and implemented using the Queensland Health Telehealth network with the UQ Centre for Online Health. The impact on families quality of life, costs and consequences of earlier detection and health outcomes will be monitored with the Health Economics Unit at Griffith University.
Absent: Prof Paul Colditz (UQ), Prof Nadia Badawi (Cerebral Palsy Alliance).
