Health researchers receive enormous grant to research health inequality

[Translate to English:] — Professor Viola Burau (left), Assistant Professor Michael Fehsenfeld, Postdoc Sofie Buch Mejsner and collaboration partners from Central Denmark Region and Viborg municipality, has received funding to study how the healthcare system can be adapted to better accommodate particularly vulnerable groups in society. Photo: Simon Fischel, AU Health and private.

7 August 2023 by Sabina Bjerre Hansen

People with a combination of psychiatric, social and health problems often have frequent contact with a wide range of healthcare services, but research shows that they struggle to find their way to the right service at the right time. The most vulnerable groups in society therefore need a single access point to the healthcare system. This is the focal point of the model for integrated access to healthcare and social services (FACT) that has been implemented by Central Denmark Region and three municipalities.

"My work is centred on how the organisation of the healthcare system influences public health, and how we can create better correlations for both citizens and healthcare professionals. Our current project investigates how the FACT model can be sustained in the long term, and we are conducting a qualitative study of vulnerable people’s encounters with the grey zone between healthcare and social services," says Viola Burau.

Assistant Professor Michael Fehsenfeld, Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, Dorte Mark, head of quality and development at the Psychiatry and Social Service Department of Central Denmark Region, and Jane Aslaug, head of the area of psychiatry for Viborg municipality, are all co-applicants on the project that will be funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation for the next four years. Sofie Buch Mejsner has been hired as a postdoc on the project.

Contact
Professor and PhD Viola Burau
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health
Mobile: +45 93 50 84 39
Email: viola@ph.au.dk