Those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds are still underrepresented in clinical trials.
We know it can be hard for our patients to understand what clinical trials are, especially when English isn’t their first language.
Around 9,000 people in our community speak a language other than English at home, so it’s important to us that we break down barriers to ensure everyone in our community can understand the benefits clinical trials offer.
Today, we have around 55 clinical trials open across anaesthetics, cancer, emergency medicine, infectious disease, surgery, renal and intensive care.
We have been providing clinical trials to our community for over two decades. Recently, we’ve focused on growing our clinical trials capability and workforce to increase the range of clinical trials we can provide to our community.
Clinical trials are a way for patients to try the latest medicines and treatments that have shown promising results. They can help your health now and the health of the next generation. Patients on trials say they like the very close care they receive in a clinical trial.
Bendigo Health’s Director of Research, Dr Angela Crombie, said clinical trials are vital to patient care.
“We’ve been conducting clinical trials here for over 20 years because they are the only way to find the next best treatment for our patients. All current medicines and treatments were once a clinical trial, but we’re always looking for the next best treatment for our patients.”
“Our goal at Bendigo Health is to ensure that every patient, regardless of background, has equal access to the opportunities and benefits that clinical trials offer our community,” she said.
Bendigo Health has been supported by a program called TrialHub, based at The Alfred Hospital, since 2021 to help us boost the number of clinical trials we offer and to support the upskilling of our workforce in clinical trials.
Visit our clinical trials web section here: https://www.bendigohealth.org.au/clinicaltrials/