Online Q & A with Chief Health Officer and Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer
3 March 2021
Almost 100 people joined Health Consumers Queensland’s Q&A Forum for First Nations consumers, carers and health workers on the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, and Queensland’s Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer and Deputy Director-General, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Ms Haylene Grogan joined us to share the latest information and answer participants’ questions.
Clinical Excellence Queensland (CEQ) performs a stewardship role in relation to Queensland public Hospital in the Home (HITH) services. In recent years, while CEQ has collaborated with HITH services statewide to optimise the uptake of service delivery in Queensland, robust consumer engagement regarding HITH has not occurred.
In November 2020, Health Consumers Queensland undertook consultation with grassroots community via 15 kitchen table discussions. The outcomes of the consultation enable CEQ to explore current perceptions about HITH (awareness/knowledge) and consumer’s appetite for virtual care provision.
We’re working hard to lock in speakers and events so that you know what you can look forward to seeing at the 2019 Annual Forum.
Health Consumers Queensland Consumer Training
One of the most popular events at last year’s forum, in 2019 we’re giving consumers and carers another chance to take part in our Consumer Partnerships training.
Networking Event
Meet and mingle with a wide range of people involved in consumer partnerships from throughout Queensland
Young People’s Panel
Up and coming health consumers talk about what matters to them, and give their thoughts on how to create the best health system possible
What Will Partnerships Look Like in 5 Year’s Time?
Join representatives of health organisations to look at possibilities, progress and problems we can expect to see over the next 5 years.
Consumer Awards
Celebrating excellence in consumer partnerships
Table Top Conversations
An extension of our recent successful series of kitchen table conversations, we bring consumers and staff together to nut out some tricky questions in healthcare
Queensland Genomics
After a popular session last year, Queensland Genomics return to answer your questions on genomics in the community
Keep your eye on this page for the latest program updates.
Health Consumers Queensland continues to support consumer co-design in the development of a statewide, multidisciplinary service for mesh affected Queensland women. If you haven’t already, please sign up to Queensland Health’s email contact list, to be advised on how to access the clinic when it opens:
In addition to this work, we are co-hosting a national forum with our equivalent organisations around the country, with funding assistance from several state health departments including Queensland Health.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS – A NATIONAL FORUM ON THE IMPACT OF MESH IMPLANTS
With the conclusion of the Senate Inquiry into transvaginal mesh and the subsequent response by the Federal Government, many among the general public assume that the tragedy of the mesh crisis has been addressed and future injury averted.
Thousands of mesh injured women would disagree and the emerging crisis of injury related to hernia mesh suggests the worst may still be ahead. The National Forum on Mesh Implants is the opportunity for those who have been affected by mesh to have their collective voices heard and their concerns finally addressed.
The National Mesh Implant Forum is our opportunity to address the unfinished business of mesh. (more…)
WE ASKED, YOU SAID, WE DID: MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER
August 2017
The final Steering Committee meeting held on 19 July marked the end of this stage of the implementation of the Barrett Commission of Inquiry Recommendations. Health Consumers Queensland has also provided a final written report as well as a short video final report.
Health Consumers Queensland has been honoured to support the codesign and Ministerial announcement today of the location of the new statewide Queensland Pelvic Mesh Service based out of the Gold Coast, to open in the first half of 2019.
See below for a statement from our CEO Melissa Fox.
Today is a momentous and emotional day for mesh affected women in Queensland and their advocates.
Thank you to the individual woman who originally brought this issue to our organisation’s attention. Today was for you.
Thank you to the women who bravely shared with us and Queensland Health your most intimate and awful experiences of being let down by our health system. What you so clearly articulated as your health needs, have formed the basis of the model of service that will be delivered.
That so many of you hadn’t been listened to and taken care of by the health professionals that you trusted, is an indictment on how we treat mothers in our society. Hopefully today is another step towards your healing and you receiving the care that you need to live your best lives possible.
To the women who have guided the development of this service, thank you for your patience and ongoing commitment.
Thank you to the Clinical Excellence Queensland in Queensland Health and the Health Minister Steven Miles MP. You have listened with compassion, respect, at times horror at the experiences the women have shared and most of all a solid commitment to Queensland meeting the health needs of these women. (more…)
Twelve Youth Mental Health Forums were held across the state, with representatives from Health Consumers Qld, Queensland Health and the Department of Education presenting on the Barrett Commission of Inquiry Implementation Project. You can stay up to date with the outcomes from the forums at the Queensland Health website www.health.qld.gov.au/improvement/youthmentalhealth
The final Implementation Steering Committee meeting will be held on 19 July and further information on the next phase of this work will be made available as soon as possible. With the exciting announcement in the Queensland Budget of a $70M allocation to the new facility, 2 Step Up/
Step Down facilities and 2 Day Programs, there is still much work to be done.
Final reports on each aspect of the implementation will be made available also on the Queensland Health website.
This letter has been submitted to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care by each state’s Pelvic Mesh Support Groups and the Health Consumer organisations in each State and Territory across Australia, asking the Commission to comprehensively address the recommendations tabled in the Senate Report (see below post).
Excerpt:
This letter is a joint appeal from each state’s Pelvic Mesh Support Groups and the current Health Consumer organisations in each State and Territory across Australia. On behalf of all mesh injured women of Australia, and those who may in the future access treatment for stress urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse we write to you, the Australia Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare to comprehensively address the recommendations tabled in the above report. We need and value your support in addressing the urgent call for action to prioritise the management of this medical disaster that is crippling Australian women and their families.
Women from the Support Groups are struggling with lifelong complications, physical and mental ill health, pain, suffering, financial burden and significant loss of life as they knew it. They feel that there needs to be a dramatic cultural change in treatment, reflected from the top and ensured by ACSQHC.
There is a significant lack of trust in the medical treatment these women have received; they have been dismissed, ignored and gaslighted into believing their ailments were “all in our heads”. As Senator Rachel Siewert, Chair of the Senate Inquiry, stated in her report release speech: They have suffered for so long without being heard. They have not been believed. In some cases, they’ve been belittled. They have been ignored. Well, for no longer shall they be ignored.
Appropriate pathways for lifelong care are now required. A trauma based model is needed for treatment moving forward; together with empowerment for all women at every stage of their journey.
