Ms Chris Holton

Biography/ Background

Chris is a qualified accountant, with a background in business education, who has also undertaken studies in Public Health. She has combined these disciplines in her work over the last 11 years as a researcher, with a particular emphasis on Health Economics. Her research work within the University of Adelaide has produced economic evaluations of specific programs of chronic disease management in general practice, in particular systematic diabetes care, and the use of recall systems in promoting best-practice Asthma care. This work has involved applying for grant funding, design of research methodology and data collection tools, liaison with patients, GPs and Divisions of General Practice, statistical analysis, and economic evaluation. She has been Trial Manager for 2 NHMRC-funded asthma projects for the Primary Care Respiratory Research Unit within the Discipline of General Practice.

In addition, she has developed financial models of the viability of EPC items in general practice, the cost of a computerised decision support system relating to hypertension and the costs involved in setting up a health care system for homeless people. She has also been part of a team, in conjunction with the University of New South Wales, which has undertaken research into factors which either enable or act as barriers to best-practice chronic disease management in general practice, with a particular emphasis on the business systems which operate at the practice level.

As part of thePCRRU, she has worked collaboratively with colleagues in similar specialist units in Aberdeen (UK) and Nijmegen (Netherlands), with joint grant applications, publications, and exchanges of staff.

Qualifications

BA(Acc), DipT(Com), GDAcc, GDPH

Research Funding

2008-2010                   Evaluating the long-term costs and benefits of community-based initiatives.

                                    Karnon, J, Beilby J, Holton C, Hakendorf P, Ben-Tovim D, Ryan P, Eckermann S, Woollacott A, Banham D, Noort M, Daley M, Roos N, Sawyer M, Elshaug A.

                                    Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grant - $300,000.

 

2008                            Anxiety and depression in poorly-controlled asthma patients:  a pilot study.

Holton C, Crockett A, Barton C, Price D, Cleland J, Moffat M.

PHCRED Seeding Grant - $9,000

 

2005-2007                   Spirometry and asthma management in children and adults in general practice.

Beilby J, Crockett A, Nelson M, Wood-Baker R, Ryan P, Staugas R, Adams R, Stocks N, Holton C.

                                    National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia - $500,000.

 

2004-2005                                    Systematic practice-based asthma care in the Australian setting.

Beilby J, Harris M, Ruffin R, Pekarsky B, Holton C, Powell Davies G, McElroy H, Comino E.

National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia - $556,500.

 

2003-2005                   Point of care testing for the management of atrial fibrillation in general practice.

                                    Howell C, Laurence C, Holton C.

                                    Cardiovascular Research grants in General Practice - $22,000.

Publications

Proudfoot JG, Bubner T, Amoroso C, Swan E, Holton C, Winstanley J, Beilby J, Harris MF.  Chronic Care Team Profile: a brief tool to measure the structure and function of chronic care teams in general practice.  J Eval in Clin Prac 2009; 15:692-698.

Jayasinghe, UW, Proudfoot J, Barton CA, Amoroso C, Holton C, Powell Davies G, Beilby J, Harris MF.  Quality of life of Australian chronically-ill adults: patient and practice characteristics matter.  Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2009; 7: 50.

Barton C, Proudfoot J, Amoroso C, Ramsay E, Holton C, Bubner T, Powell-Davies G, Harris M, Beilby J on behalf of the Practice Capacity research team.  Management of asthma in Australian General Practice:  care is still not in line with clinical practice guidelines.  Prim Care Resp J 2009; 18(2):100-105.

Holton C, Beilby J, Harris M, Proudfoot J, Harper C, Ramsay E, Ruffin R.  Is it cost-effective to take a more systematic approach to managing asthma in Australian general practice?  (conf abstract)  Prim Care Resp J 2008: 17(2): 120.

Beilby J, Nelson M, Holton C, Crockett A, Wood-Baker R, Briggs N, Davoren S.  Spirometry training for GPs and practice nurses: is it feasible and beneficial to asthma patients? (conf abstract) GP & PHC Research Conference abstract book, 4 June 2008, Hobart

Upali W Jayasinghe, Judy Proudfoot, Chris Holton, Gawaine Powell Davies, Cheryl Amoroso, Tanya Bubner, Justin Beilby, Mark F Harris.  Chronically ill Australians’ satisfaction with accessibility and patient-centredness.  Int J for Quality in Health Care 2008; 20: 105-114.

Amoroso C, Proudfoot J, Bubner T, Jayasinghe UW, Holton C, Winstanley J, Beilby J, Harris MF.  Validation of an instrument to measure inter-organisational linkages in general practice, International Journal of Integrated Care [serial online] 2007 Nov 29;7 (Available from http://www.ijic.org/).

Judith Proudfoot, Upali W Jayasinghe, Fernando Infante,  Justin Beilby, Cheryl Amoroso, Gawaine Powell Davies, Jane Grimm, Christine Holton, Tanya Bubner, Mark Harris. Quality of chronic disease care in general practice: the development and validation of a provider interview tool. BMC Family Practice 2007; 8: 21-27.

Mark Harris, Judy Proudfoot, Upali W. Jayasinghe, Chris Holton, Gawaine Powell Davies, Cheryl Amoroso, Tanya Bubner, Justin Beilby.  Job satisfaction of staff and the team environment in Australian general practice.  Med J Aust 2007; 186 (11): 570-573

 

Judith Proudfoot, Fernando Infante, Christine Holton, Gawaine Powell-Davies, Tanya Bubner, Justin Beilby, Mark Harris.  Organisational capacity and chronic disease care:  an Australian general practice perspective.  Aust Fam Physician, 2007: 36 (3); 286-288.

 

Proudfoot Judith, Jayasinghe Upali, Holton Chris, Grimm Jane, Bubner Tanya, Amoroso Cheryl, Beilby Justin, Harris Mark F and PracCap Research Team.  Team climate for innovation: what difference does it make in Australian general practice?.  Int J for Quality in Health Care 2007: doi: 10.1093/intqhc/mzm005

 

Justin Beilby, Christine Holton, Mark Harris, Judy Proudfoot, Clare Harper, Emmae Ramsay, Richard Ruffin.  Systematic practice-based asthma care in the Australian setting (Conference abstract).  Primary Care Resp J, June 2006; 15(3): 188.

 

Beilby J, Harper C, Holton C, Proudfoot J, Harris M. Uptake of spirometry training by GPs (letter).  Aust Fam Physician, April 2006; 35(4): 183-184.

 Justin Beilby and Christine Holton.  Chronic disease management in Australia:  evidence and policy mismatch, with asthma as an example.  Chronic Illness, March 2005; 1: 73-80.  

 

Proudfoot J, Swan E, Amoroso C, Grimm J, Jayasinghe U, Powell Davies G, Bubner T, Holton C, Barton C, Beilby J, Harris M.  Measuring the capacity of Australian general practices to conduct quality chronic disease care.  Proceedings of the 2^nd Australasian Conference on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2004.  Canberra

 

Infante FA, Proudfoot JG, Powell Davies G, Bubner TK, Holton CH, Beilby JJ, Harris MF. How people with chronic illnesses view their care in general practice:  a qualitative study.  Med J Aust, July 2004; 181(2): 70-73.  

 

Oldroyd J, Proudfoot J, Infante FA, Powell Davies G, Bubner T, Holton C, Beilby JJ, Harris MF.  Providing healthcare for people with chronic illness: the views of Australian GPs.  Med J Aust, July 2003; 179(1): 30-33. 

 

Beilby J, Holton C, Bubner T, Harris M, Powell Davies G, Proudfoot J.  Building practice capacity for chronic disease management in general practice:  Policy paper for General Practice Partnership Advisory Council (GPPAC).  Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra.  May 2003 

 

Professional Associations

CPA

Entry last updated: Thursday, 19 May 2011