December 2019

Meeting community needs’ is a phrase often heard in health service planning, but how do you know if you are meeting the needs and expectations of the communities you are working with? And are needs analyses, demographic profiles and epidemiological data all that’s needed when it comes to designing and delivering health intervention?

Our own Dr Anthony Brown, in this webinar run by The International Foundation for Integrated Care Australia, will explore the reasons why partnering with communities is essential in developing health services. It will explain the differences between partnering with communities and partnering with health consumers, and why both are needed and how each answers different, complementary questions.

The webinar will also include some real-world examples of community engagement, focusing on traditionally underserved communities; as well as hints and suggestions on where to begin such partnerships.

Register to attend webinar

Young Australians are in many ways at the coalface of the country's mental health crisis.

Rates of mental health concerns appear to be getting worse and teenagers are increasingly ending up in the emergency department in mental health crises.

Three quarters of people who have mental illness develop symptoms before the age of 25, and in 2018, suicide accounted for more than a third of deaths among 15-24 year-olds.

"If we can afford another superfluous scanner and another drug that offers no survival benefit, we can afford armchairs for relatives"; writes Ranjana Srivastava in this The Guardian article.

Deadline: As soon as possible
Who: Wiser Healthcare, The University of Sydney School of Public Health

Dense breasts are prevalent in upwards of half of the women in the breast screening population, making it one of the most common independent risk factors for breast cancer.

Separate from this, having dense breasts also increases a women’s risk of having a breast cancer missed during screening.

The landscape for notifying women about their breast density is rapidly evolving in Australia, with increased pressure on screening services to provide this information to women as a way to combat this risk. However, the evidence to support breast density notification is lacking and recommendations for supplemental screening is far from clear, despite public advocacy campaigns advising women to obtain this information.

A research team from Wiser Healthcare is currently trying to find evidence-based answers and is looking for women of breast screening age who are interested in being an active member of the research team as a health consumer representative. Consumer reps will be listed as an investigator on the project including in ethics and grant applications and publications.

Find out more and become involved.

Deadline: As soon as possible
Who: La Trobe University

Are you interested in how public hospitals use social media?

Have you been involved in public hospital quality improvement or service design activities?

Louisa Walsh, a PhD student from La Trobe University, is seeking people to take part in an interview to discuss how social media can be used to involve patients and carers in the design of public hospital services and other activities to improve the quality of public hospital systems and processes.

Louisa is interested in speaking to people who are:

• Consumer representatives (in paid or volunteering roles) in Australian public hospitals who have experience in using social media and/or are interested in how social media could potentially be used as part of their consumer representative role; or
• Employed at Australian public hospitals, have experience or interest in using social media to involve consumers in health service design, patient experience or quality improvement activities, and work in one of the following roles:
  • Patient experience/consumer engagement leads (or similar titles/roles with responsibility for co-ordinating consumer engagement in health service design or QI)
  • Quality improvement project/activity management or co-ordination
  • Communications

Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights - consumer guide feedback

Deadline: Friday, 6 December 2019
Who: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care

Take the survey

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) published the second edition of the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights (the Charter) in August 2019. The Charter describes the rights that consumers, or someone they care for, can expect when receiving health care in Australia.

To support the release of the Charter, the Commission has developed an associated guide for consumers. The guide is intended to provide consumers with further information about each of the healthcare rights and guidance on how to discuss concerns about their health care with their healthcare provider or service.

The Commission would like your feedback on the guide for consumers. YOu can provide feedback by completing this survey. 

Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Planning Forums

Deadline: Sunday, 15 December 2019
Who: PHN Nepean/Blue Mountains, Wentworth Healthcare

Click here to register for forums or take the survey

Wentworth Healthcare (Nepean/Blue Mountains PHN) are partnering with Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District to hold both face-to-face and online community forums, inviting people who use local mental health and suicide prevention services to help shape the way services are planned and designed for the future in the area.

Some of the forums have already happened but you can still register for the following forums:

• Lithgow, 6 December 2019 (Face to Face forum)
• Online forums on 9 December 2019

You can also take this online survey open until 15 December 2019.

Building a movement for careful and kind patient care

Deadline: As soon as possible
Who: The Patient Revolution

Take the survey

The Patient Revolution team has been brainstorming - thinking up ways they can use their resources to support the community in pursuit of careful and kind patient care.

They're excited about the possibility of discussion groups as a way for people to come together, get excited, and generate actionable plans around relevant issues and topics.

And this is where you come in: they'd love your input on this idea as they engage and support their growing and global community. Take this short survey to help them shape the future of The Patient Revolution!

Take the survey 

On Friday 6th December 2019, health stakeholders from all over the world will stand together, united in a celebration of Patient Solidarity Day (PSD). This will be the seventh year running that we have joined hands to mark the Day. On PSD 2019, IAPO members, patients, various healthcare organisations, policy-makers, academia, institutions, industry and other stakeholders will come together to call for acceleration of safe patient-centred universal health coverage. 

The theme, 'Acceleration for Safe Patient-Centred Universal Health Coverage', will allow us to rally around a key tenet of IAPO’s Patient-centred Healthcare Declaration, that patients must have access to safe, quality and appropriate treatments as warranted by their conditions.  

Follow and join the buzz on social media - #PSD2019.

Community engagement: a starter pack for scientists

Read article full of tools for engagement published by nature now

Karen Fortuna worked alongside people with lived experiences of psychiatric conditions to develop technologies to help improve their mental and physical health. In this article, she describes how they worked with community and provides links to great tools. 

How to navigate specialist fees in the private health system

Read article by ABC News with tips about specialist fees now

Have you ever taken up private health insurance, only to end up hundreds or thousands of dollars out of pocket for your treatment?

There are ways to avoid being stung with a hefty medical bill — and it starts by asking the right questions. Read this article to learn more. 

A consumer-centred future of health - global healthcare trend survey results

Download information about the survey results

Deloitte’s 2019 global health care consumer survey finds people are exhibiting traditional “consumer behaviours” when it comes to health care: They are willing to shop for deals, disagree with their doctor, and use technology to track and maintain their health.