12 Oct 2023
Health Consumers Queensland has conducted several rounds of consultation in partnership with external organisations, including CheckUp, Darling Downs West Moreton PHN and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
Rural, regional and remote access to healthcare
CheckUp engaged us to consult with First Nations and non-indigenous rural, remote and regional consumers on their health care experiences to inform future service planning. Using the Kitchen Table Discussion and Yarning Circle methods, our First Nations Consultant, Cas Nest, supported the gathering of consumer views from across Queensland, as far north as Ravenshoe, out west to Boulia and down south in Kingaroy and Cherbourg. 62 consumers shared their thoughts across seven consultations.
Cas presented the key findings from the report Not a postcode lottery: What Queensland First Nations and non- indigenous rural, remote & regional consumers want from their healthcare in 2023 in the keynote address at CheckUp’s 2023 Outreach Forum with one of the consumer hosts, Karen Metcalfe from Charters Towers. Together HCQ and CheckUp have produced an engaging summary of the key findings and recommendations. The summary is available to view here.
The rural and remote consumer voices were amplified further when Cas presented at the 3rd Queensland Clinical Networks Symposium: ‘Strengthening quality and safety in modern healthcare systems’ on Friday 6 October 2023.
Talk About in Darling Downs West Moreton
Since 2020, HCQ has supported the Darling Downs West Moreton PHN’s TALK ABOUT community engagement campaign by facilitating consultations to hear from a diversity of health consumer voices across the region. Through HCQ’s unique, consumer-led kitchen table discussion methodology we have facilitated 11 rounds of consultation topics for the PHN to date, hearing the voices of 442 consumers. You can read more about the project here. We recently heard the exciting news that the TALK ABOUT project is a finalist in the IAP2 Core Values Awards! These awards recognise outstanding projects and organisations at the forefront of community engagement. The nomination is well-deserved: throughout the TALK ABOUT project, the PHN has shown its absolute commitment to reaching every corner of their region to hear from as wide a range of consumers as possible. It has been a privilege to work closely with the PHN and HCQ’s consumer hosts of Kitchen Tables and Yarning Circles, and other partners on this project.
26 Jul 2023
Following on from a report in the September 2022 issue of HCQ’s e-Alert, yet another paper by the research team of Ruth Cox, Director of Occupational Therapy at QEII Jubilee Hospital and a PhD candidate at Griffith University; consumer co-researchers, Elizabeth Miller and Bernadette Tanner; Associate Professor Melissa Kendall; and Professor Matthew Molineux, has just been published in the Australian Health Review. It’s called Learning and development needs for successful staff and consumer partnerships on healthcare quality improvement committees: a co-produced cross-sectional online survey.
Full Reference: Australian Health Review, Online Early https://doi.org/10.1071/AH22266
Elizabeth, who is a consumer co-researcher said “in this study, we conducted a learning and development needs analysis of quality improvement (QI) capabilities for staff and consumers on partnership committees at an Australian metropolitan HHS. We compared their self-rated responses against capability importance and performance which demonstrated their learning needs. We also investigated whether the number of years of partnership experience influenced the ratings and which learning strategies or methods were preferred by both groups”.
The major findings of this research were that:
- The Capability Development Framework (shown below) is a useful tool to guide learning and development for successful QI partnerships.
- Staff and consumers should continuously develop QI partnership capabilities together, and through multiple learning approaches.
- Increased exposure to innovative co-design strategies is needed to enhance capabilities and influence on organisational systems and policies.
- Sharing power and leadership was a high learning need.
- Self-reflection is very important, but it was not recognised by staff and consumers as a preferred learning strategy, so this needs more research.
This learning and development needs analysis provides direction for effective design of education and support programs.
If you would like more information and/or a copy of the paper and framework, please contact Ruth Cox via ruth.cox@health.qld.gov.au
Read the full Capability Development Framework, including the capability descriptions- https://www.publish.csiro.au/AH/acc/AH22266/AH22266_AC.PDF
Additionally, you can go to these links to get a free open access copy of the scoping review and eDelphi study related to this research project.
https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/31/2/134
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hex.13499
18 Jul 2023
In this issue:
- New training for consumers and staff AI + Healthcare: What do you need to know?
- My Health Record Consumer Co-Design Opportunity
- Interested in how digital health is delivered and experienced across Queensland?
- Looking for information on recruiting consumers?
- Office of the Chief Psychiatrist Steering Committee
- Join the PARTNER Network’s Community Advisory Group
Read this week’s eAlert
10 Jun 2021
Eighteen panellists, four episodes, four topics, one focus: working together to make healthcare the best it can be.
Thank you to everyone (610 views so far) who tuned in to our inaugural webcast series: Sharing Power: Co-design with consumers for impact and equity during 25 May – 3 June.
Our Annual Forums are renowned for bringing together expertise across consumer partnerships and whilst we could not meet face-to-face this year, we were delighted to still be able to bring you together with inspiring consumer and carer representatives, health staff, and NGO staff representing consumers and carers to discuss what it takes to truly share decision-making power.
(more…)
21 Dec 2020
Finally, we are at the end of this never-ending year.
As news started to filter through at this same time last year of a concerning new virus, few of us could have foreseen that COVID-19 would go on to wreak havoc and heartbreak across the globe on such a massive scale.
We know that in many ways we are ‘lucky’ here in Queensland but we are also aware that in order to contain the virus we have had to bear the consequences of strict and sometimes painful restrictions. You may have lost a loved one and been unable to attend their funeral. You may have welcomed a new baby into the world without being able to share the joy and receive support in those early days. You may have been stranded in Australia, have a precarious visa status or be homeless, and have felt abandoned. You may have felt overwhelmed by having to work harder than you’ve ever worked whilst home-schooling your children or you may have lost your job or your business and be fearful of what the future holds.
This year has forced us to dig deep and tap into reserves of fortitude, resilience and adaptability that we never knew we had. In our separation, isolation and darkest moments, we have needed connection – to be seen, heard and considered – more than ever. And we’ve used our ability to innovate or be resourceful so that we can continue to reach out to our loved ones, our friends, our colleagues and people who can support us. (more…)
18 Dec 2020
From a sombre starting point at the onset of lockdown when the Health Consumers Queensland team were faced with the prospect of COVID-19 significantly impacting the work of the many wonderful health consumers on our network as well as our engagement partners at Queensland Health, we are instead ending the year able to celebrate extraordinary growth across the health engagement space with you all.
We have never seen such incredible numbers. And we are so proud of how hard we have all worked this year to ensure consumer voices are heard when key decisions are being made – going the extra mile time and time again to achieve this. Thank you to everyone involved and a special thanks to our extraordinary team:
Melissa Fox, Chief Executive Officer
A key part of Melissa Fox’s role this year has been to strongly advocate for consumer involvement in all parts of the health system. She sits on key committees and decision-making groups and has been a true and strong voice ensuring consumers are involved in key decision-making.
Indeed, without Melissa’s advocacy early in March at a large system wide forum with representatives from Queensland Health, including the Chief Health Officer and the Director-General, where she identified the potential consequences of Queensland’s health system not engaging swiftly and meaningfully with consumers and the community, the voice of consumers may not have been heard to the extent they have. “Speak up even when your voice shakes”, is a phrase that seems quite a good fit for Melissa this year. She’s been a fearsome leader and we’ve achieved what we have largely because of her determination to ensure consumers are heard. Thank you. (more…)
14 Dec 2020
2020 will go down as the year when consumers in Queensland stood shoulder to shoulder with their public health system thanks to the efforts of so many committed and passionate consumers and dedicated consumer champions within Queensland Health.
So please forgive us if we shed quite a few happy tears during our final Consumer Conversation for the year on Wednesday. Fourteen consumers, Health Consumers Queensland team members and Dr Alex Markwell, Chair of the Queensland Clinical Senate and a tireless consumer champion who supported our bid to be around the table at the beginning of COVID-19 and has partnered meaningfully with us throughout this time, had much to celebrate.
Together we shared our perspectives on the incredible HCQ Covid-19 Community of Interest and reflected upon the impact that the conversations, consultations and discussions held during this extraordinary time in all our lives.
Continue reading eAlert >
10 Dec 2020
2020 will go down as the year when consumers in Queensland stood shoulder to shoulder with their public health system thanks to the efforts of so many committed and passionate consumers and dedicated consumer champions within Queensland Health.
So please forgive us if we shed quite a few happy tears during our final Consumer Conversation for the year on Wednesday. There was so much to celebrate by the fourteen consumers, Health Consumers Queensland team members and Dr Alex Markwell, Chair of the Queensland Clinical Senate and a tireless consumer champion who supported our bid to be around the table at the beginning of COVID-19 and has partnered meaningfully with us throughout this time.
Together we all shared our perspectives on the incredible Health Consumers Queensland Covid-19 Community of Interest and reflected upon the impact that the conversations, consultations and discussions held during this extraordinary time in all our lives.
The COVID-19 Community of Interest and our online Consumer Conversations were established almost overnight through existing Health Consumers Queensland networks to enable rapid, accessible and inclusive consumer consultation on unprecedented challenges for the health system..
Over 600 consumers and observers/speakers from Queensland Health have attended 24 Consumer conversations since the end of March. Based on what you told us about what was and wasn’t working in the public health system, you trusted us to put together 22 Issues Papers and we shared these across the Department and all the Hospitals and Health Services to inform the response to COVID-19. (more…)
