Breaking cultural barriers for clinical trials

People 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. After English, Italian and Mandarin are the most spoken languages in Gippsland, and we also have a growing Indian community, so it’s important to us we break down barriers to ensure everyone in our community can understand the benefits clinical trials offer.

Today, we’ve opened 40 clinical trials across all major cancer streams, including breast, colon, prostate and blood cancers, as well as therapeutic areas such as orthopaedic surgery, palliative care, paediatrics, dermatology, endocrinology, respiratory, renal disease, and cardiovascular disease.

We have been providing clinical trials to our community for six years.

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.

Latrobe Regional Health’s General Manager of Research and Partnerships, Dr Jhodie Duncan, said clinical trials are vital to patient care.

“We’ve been conducting clinical trials here for over six years now 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 Latrobe Regional 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.

Latrobe Regional Health has been part of a program called TrialHub, based at The Alfred Hospital, since 2021 to help boost the number of clinical trials we offer and to support the upskilling of our workforce in clinical trials.

Visit our clinical trials here: https://lrh.com.au/research-clinical-trials/clinical-trials/