26 Jun 2020
Closing date: Monday 3 August 2020, 9.00am
The Better Health North Queensland Alliance would like to invite two (2) health consumer representatives from North Queensland to join the strategic governing committee to inform and shape decisions to achieve their vision of Northern Queenslanders being as healthy as all Queenslanders.
Better Health North Queensland is a collaboration between the five North Queensland Hospital and Health Services; North West HHS, Torres and Cape HHS, Cairns and Hinterland HHS, Townsville HHS, Mackay HHS and other key partners working to improve the health of Northern Queenslanders.
Purpose
The purpose of the Better Health NQ Alliance is to support the vision that ‘Northern Queenslanders will be as healthy as all Queenslanders’.
In partnership with consumers and carers, the Better Health North Queensland Alliance has a commitment to delivering healthcare differently by;
- Investing in prevention and primary healthcare
- Providing earlier and improved access to services
- Empowering our communities to live a better, healthier life.
It is anticipated that this strategic approach, will result in a system and service aligned northern region.
The principal function of the Alliance is to oversee the implementation of the Better Health NQ Master Service Plan and improve the health outcomes of northern residents by undertaking a collective approach to planning, designing, alliancing and commissioning of health services.
Members are:
- Health Service Chief Executive, Mackay Hospital and Health Service
- Health Service Chief Executive, Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service
- Health Service Chief Executive, North West Hospital and Health Service
- Health Service Chief Executive, Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service
- Health Service Chief Executive, Townsville Hospital and Health Service
- Chief Executive Officer, Northern Queensland Primary Health Network
- Chief Executive & General Manager, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council
- Deputy Director-General (DDG), Clinical Excellence Division, Queensland Health
- DDG, Healthcare Purchasing and System Performance Division, Queensland Health
- Assistant DDG, Strategy, Policy and Planning Division, Queensland Health
- Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council
- Two consumer representatives
See Terms of Reference.
Role of the consumer
The role of the successful applicant will be to attend all Steering Committee meetings and to actively participate in all Steering Committee activities such as pre-meeting reading, discussions, provision of feedback and advice.
Who is it for?
This opportunity would suit a consumer or carer representative who:
- Has at least 6 months’ committee experience, either at the Hospital and Health Service, or Statewide level.
- Are living in North Queensland: Mackay, Cairns, Torres and Cape, North West or Townsville
- Has an interest or a lived experience or caring for someone with a complex and/or chronic disease and rural and remote health.
We welcome people living in rural and remote areas and Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander consumer representatives to apply.
(more…)
26 Jun 2020
Health Consumers Queensland has been facilitating Consumer Conversations since 25 March to hear directly from consumers during COVID-19. Since then we have held 26 sessions with more than 500 consumers. The early conversations were during a lot of uncertainty as public health restrictions were being imposed and we simply asked “what is working, what isn’t and what are you concerned about?” As the curve began to flatten, we refined the conversations to focus on specific topics, based on what we were hearing from consumers. Consumers routinely identified early key issues for the community, which we were able to feed through to the health system. This enabled the system to respond in the knowledge of consumer insights and expectations.
Read the full summary >
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
Closing date: 5pm, Friday 19th June 2020
The Department of Health is providing a unique opportunity for several health consumer representatives with a lived experience of mental health, alcohol or other drug issues to participate in a facilitated focus group to inform a new five-year plan for mental health alcohol and other drug services in Queensland. The focus group will discuss the draft vision, guiding principles, objectives and themes for the new plan.
The new five-year plan will follow the end of the existing plan, Connecting Care to Recovery 2016-2021: A plan for Queensland’s state funded mental health, alcohol and other drug services.
(see: https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/465131/connecting-care.pdf).
The new plan will continue to focus on and build on the work commenced through Connecting Care to Recovery, including:
• Enhancing treatment services in the community
• Building community bed-based services and models that divert people from hospital and the Emergency Department
• Enhancing community support services delivered by non-government organisations and
• Establishing new mental health, alcohol and other drug models of service including crisis response services.
Purpose
This focus group consultation is an initial opportunity for people with lived experience, carers, and consumers of mental health and alcohol and other drug services, to participate in and inform the development of a new mental health alcohol and other drugs plan.
Local consumers and carers of mental health and alcohol and other drug services across the State will be further involved in consultations planned with Hospital and Health Services, Primary Health Networks, non-government organisations, sector representatives and other stakeholder groups.
The involvement of people with a lived experience in the health system is outlined and defined in the Lived Experience Engagement and Participation Strategy 2018-2021
(see: https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/812984/leep-strategy.pdf).
Role of the lived experience representative
The role of the successful applicants for the consultation focus group will be:
• to attend a two-hour virtual workshop
• to provide information as a lived experience representative
• to provide advice and feedback to inform decisions about the vision, guiding principles and objectives of a new plan for mental health alcohol and other drug services.
Who is it for?
This opportunity would suit consumer or carer representatives with:
• a lived experience of mental health, alcohol or other drug issues
• knowledge or experience of health services either at the Hospital and Health Service, or in community settings.
Time and location
The focus group will be held on Friday 26 June 2020, from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm.
The focus group will be conducted on a virtual platform, Microsoft Teams. Representatives will be provided with information to allow them to access this software on their home computer, tablet or phone.
(more…)
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