Health Consumers Queensland is delighted to announce the launch of the Inform My Care website
We are proud that this shift towards greater transparency has happened in Queensland, with Queenslanders, for Queenslanders. Queenslanders are the first and only people in Australia who can now compare services available at both public and private health facilities and residential aged care facilities (including maternity models of care) in one place. We can compare staffing ratios, hospital acquired complications, wait times, patient reported outcomes and more.
The project is one of the best examples of codesign that HCQ has seen and had the privilege of being involved in. Over the last three years, HCQ have supported almost 300 diverse consumers from across Queensland to be engaged with Queensland Health throughout the life of this project, through three rounds of kitchen table discussions and 12 focus groups. In addition to this, consumers have taken part in co-design sessions, consumer website testing, and language reviews of the website content. We’d like to particularly acknowledge the contribution of Lorraine Sing-Cutler, Adele Witte and Noela Baglot for their consumer representation on the Inform My Care working group. To date, Adele and Noela are still members of the working group.
We acknowledge the hard work of every single consumer, as well as Anne Curtis, our Engagement Consultant – Specific Projects and Kirstine Sketcher-Baker, Executive Director of the Patient Safety Unit with Clinical Excellence Queensland, who facilitated this end-to-end best practice engagement.
This website is about improving health care outcomes for Queenslanders through public transparency. By delivering timely and accurate information that consumers have said they want (and deserve to have), Inform my Care will empower us to make informed decisions about what care is right for us, when we can choose, and where.
Never before have we been able to compare accurate trended information over time. If there is a high rate of complications compared to facilities of a similar size, the hospital can provide contextual information if applicable. By showing warranted and unwarranted variations in care between services, the website provides the community with accountability, and an opportunity for consumer representatives to partner with health services to investigate and improve services.
While we acknowledge the long road to get here, we don’t want to stop here – we hope there will be further investment by the Queensland Government for the development of new indicators. For hospital services, consumers want to see accreditation detail, and services and patient outcomes for mental health and community services.
Any opposition from others to this landmark move to increase public transparency must be scrutinised through the lens of vested interests such as politics, profit, professional protectionism and paternalism.
As we have seen through the Royal Commission, shining a light on all corners of aged care is a must, so older people can be given quality care that gives them dignity towards the end of their lives. As of today, only 16% of private RACFs have chosen to publish their staff ratios on Inform My Care. Private RACFs must deliver on their moral obligation to the community to be upfront about their staffing ratios. Public reporting on ratios in RACFs are only the first step for aged care – accreditation results and patient outcomes in RACFs should be next.
Let us know how YOU use the Inform My Care website, to make decisions about your care and to improve the system! And what other information you would like to see published.
You can read more information about the Inform My Care website
See a short video describing the new website: https://vimeo.com/537583388/ebf2bd4f7e\