19 Jun 2020
COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on mental health service provision in Queensland like never before, as people grapple with prolonged social isolation, fear and uncertainty, unemployment, restricted access to health care, home-schooling, withdrawal of support and services, and many reporting feeling forgotten by the government and its pandemic responses.
Currently Queensland Health provides mostly acute mental health care services but some consumers consider the scale of the mental health crisis facing the public health system is “another pandemic in itself”.
In every single one of the 24 Consumer conversations we have hosted since March, over 400 consumers have shared their concerns about people’s mental health at this time.
In this week’s Consumer Conversations we asked:
- What have you learned about the current mental health system during COVID-19?
- What do you think is working?
- What do you think could be improved?
They told us that a prescriptive, inflexible and reactive approach to mental health care is not working – or helping. Consumers want tailored, individualised care and communication and a system which prioritises and values preventative mental health care measures.
Continue reading eAlert >
19 Jun 2020
COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on mental health service provision in Queensland like never before, as people grapple with prolonged social isolation, fear and uncertainty, unemployment, restricted access to health care, home-schooling, withdrawal of support and services, with many reporting feeling forgotten by the government and its pandemic responses.
Currently Queensland Health provides mostly acute mental health care services but some consumers consider the scale of the mental health crisis facing the public health system is “another pandemic in itself”.
Consumers told us that a prescriptive, inflexible and reactive approach to mental health care is not working – or helping. They want tailored, individualised care and communication and a system which prioritises and values preventative mental health care measures.
Ultimately, their vision is for a strong, integrated mental health system for everyone which is well-funded, resourced and staffed by skilled and well-trained professionals.
Read the Issues Paper on the Mental Health System >
12 Jun 2020
The message from Queensland Health is that we need more people tested for COVID-19, but consumer continue to be unclear about eligibility for testing, what testing entails, and what measures need to be taken either side of having a test. Many are reluctant to seek out testing if they are only showing mild symptoms, with the thought of isolation another disincentive.
While the Queensland Health COVID-19 site was given the thumbs-up by many as a good source of fact, inconsistencies between local and state information is compounding uncertainty on what to do. Most agreed that we should look to the tried and true strategies used during natural disasters, with regular centralized government messaging and local radio and news broadcasts nominated as the key vehicles for getting information out to the public.
Read the Issues Paper >
5 Jun 2020
This week we hosted two Consumer Conversations to seek the consumer view of what Queensland Health’s Funding Priorities should be for 2020/2021. In all, 42 consumers were involved from our our COVID-19 Community of Interest Group, members of the Health Consumers Collaborative of Queensland and our own Consumer Advisory Group (CAG) as well as HHS CAG Leaders and consumer representatives from some of the Statewide Clinical Network Steering Committees.
While talking about the proposed priorities for the next financial year, it was clear that health consumers are ready for some major changes in health. The recent Queensland Clinical Senate meeting also demonstrated a parallel appetite for change by clinicians in the health system too.
Consumers identified major reforms to long-held traditions and ways of addressing health care including:
- the way patients are categorized for care (not just triaged by clinical need/clinically appropriate wait times, but in the context of complexities in their lives)
- re-imagining HHS borders to better reflect referral pathways that work for consumers
- the way healthcare is funded (outcomes, rather than volume)
- collaborating with consumers to design new models of care, service improvements and funding models as well as when providing them with individual care
- actively addressing the social and cultural determinants of health and the systems barriers that keep some people in a cycle of poverty and ill-health.
Above all, consumers want fair, equitable and maximum access to health care services for every Queenslander.
Continue reading eAlert >
5 Jun 2020
5 June 2020
Rapid expansion of telehealth and virtual care has emerged as one of the positive outcomes from COVID-19. Consumers shared key insights including:
- Everybody is doing it differently. Let’s make it simpler, easier and less complicated for all consumers and health care providers to use telehealth.
- Let’s ensure there is public awareness and system-wide acknowledgment of when and where telehealth is inappropriate.
- Ensure consumers have choice in the way their healthcare is delivered e.g. face-to-face or by telehealth.
- Virtual care should be based on clear criteria, consumer choice and be clinically appropriate.
- Now is clearly the time to harness the potential of telehealth and address the gaps and inequities of this model of health service delivery
Read the Issues Paper >
