The Better Evidence and Translation – Chronic Kidney Disease (BEAT-CKD) Centre of Research Excellence – Partnering with Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease to Transform Care and Outcomes (CRE-PACT) officially launched with a workshop and launch event held on Monday the 14th of November 2022.

The launch provided a unique opportunity for health professionals, patients, caregivers, family members and consumer representatives with an interest in chronic kidney disease to come together and discuss ways to enhance and expand patient and caregiver involvement in research.

Multiple workshops were held over four physical locations, across multiple states, as well as zoom. Participants’ discussions emphasised the importance of having consumer contributions valued in a tangible way and there was robust conversation on many topics with good engagement from both consumers and clinicians.

Photo 1: Consumers and clinicians come together for the BEAT-CKD, CRE-PACT Launch event at SAHMRI (Kaurna Country)

The Susan Wakil building on the Sydney University campus, situated on Gadigal land hosted the principal launch site. The day was hugely successful with approximately 35 people attending the workshop in person. The organisers were thrilled to see that people with a lived experience of CKD including carers and family members made up over half of the participants.

Adelaide hosted two satellite sites for the event one at the South Australian Health Medical Research Institiute (SAHMRI) and the other at Flinders Medical Centre precinct.
SAHMRI hosted a variety of participants with the majority of participants having worked within research.

Flinders had a mix of health professionals and consumers with five clinicians and five consumers attending in person. Consumers represented the pre-dialysis, haemodialysis, transplant and carer population.

Situated on Turrbal land, the Brisbane event was held at the Translational Research Institute. The event attracted six consumers, some of whom were clinicians and researchers as well.