Annual Forum Postponed
How quickly things can change. Only a week ago I was reading the first draft of our e-news which led with a story about our Annual Forum.
Today I am sharing with you our decision this week to postpone Health Consumers Queensland’s 2020 Annual Forum on 26-27th May 2020 at Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort, as we all work together to contain the spread of the Coronavirus-Covid-19 in our own backyard.
Your wellbeing is our highest priority, and for that reason, we have made the decision to postpone our event for the foreseeable future. We will be in contact with everyone who has registered or submitted an abstract as soon as possible.
COVID-19
A pandemic is an unprecedented event for our State. An enormous amount of work is currently being led by the Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young and undertaken by people across many organisations and areas of Government as the pattern and spread of COVID-19 changes daily.
It is undoubtedly a challenging time for all of us. It requires a coordinated cross-Government, industry and community response. We have been doing our bit to ensure consumers are being involved in key decisions and we have been listening to the voices of concerned consumers and carers.
Getting Consumers Involved in Key Decision-making
Last week we invited representatives from the Department of Health to hear directly from twelve experienced and potentially vulnerable consumer partners from across the state representing Aboriginal, culturally and linguistically diverse, and rural and remote communities, people living with multiple chronic conditions or disabilities, parents of immuno-suppressed children and/or with chronic conditions and older people. You can read a report based on these discussions and what matters most to them. This report has also been shared widely with key leaders in the Department of Health.
At a Queensland Health COVID-19 forum this week Health Consumers Queensland declared that consumers and carers must be at the planning and decision-making table on this issue. We emphasised the important role consumers can play in shaping communications so they are received and understood by our diverse communities. In response, the Director-General of Health, Dr John Wakefield, has shared his expectation to the Queensland Health system leadership that it is more vital than ever that the voice of consumers is heard and valued and that the partnership between consumers and the health system is strong in this time of crisis.
Additionally, the Health Consumers Collaborative of Collaborative meeting this week focused on a workshop with consumers and senior representatives of the health system about the priorities for ensuring a consumer engaged response to COVID-19. This developed actions, principles of engagement, and networks that need to be engaged with.
We are currently planning and reviewing our work priorities for the year. We will continue to share with you about outcomes and actions that arise from this and other activities that we are involved with.
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If you would like to be a part of a statewide network of consumers who are interested in being involved on COVID-19 responses, please register your details via the link below. We are still planning how we will organize this, but we can start collecting the names of those people who are interested.
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Looking after ourselves and each other
Information about COVID-19 is changing almost daily. Please make sure you are reading the most up-to-date information – more advice on this is listed below. We know how important clear, fact-based information is to consumers and carers so you can make sure you are looking after your own health and being protective of those around you.
We have provided some additional advice at the end of this email about how you can find quality information to support you and your families at this time.
Flattening the Curve
We all have a role in doing what we can to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in the community. Actions such as hand washing and covering your cough may seem small, but are the actions that will protect ourselves and our community. Slowing the speed of the spread of COVID-19 is the key strategy to ensuring our health system can continue to support our community’s needs.
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A Focus on Powerful Partnerships During COVID-19
Health Consumers Queensland is now focusing its efforts on supporting powerful partnerships between consumers and staff in the health system. We hope to play a role in enabling the most effective strategic response to COVID-19 and the communication messages and mechanisms used during these times.
Consumers who are currently involved on a committee, we suggest you ask how and when you may be involved in the decisions being made about COVID-19 and provide feedback about what you are hearing/seeing among your network they may need to respond to.
Staff in the Department, HHS and the broad health sector, we suggest you keep your consumer representatives you have been working with, informed and updated about what’s going on by sharing key information we them. We also recommend you involve these consumers (and maybe more) to be at the decision-making table as you make collaborative decisions about your response to COVID-19.
We thank you for your understanding about our decision to postpone the Annual Forum. We also know that many of you will be at the heart of COVID-19 in Queensland, either as consumers and carers, loving family members, or as staff in the health system. Our thoughts are with you all and we hope that working together on this will help to ease the burden.
Yours in partnership,
Melissa Fox CEO, and Health Consumers Queensland Board
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Assessing Health Information
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There is so much information about COVID-19. How can I be sure that what I’m reading is reliable?
Your most reliable sources of information are Queensland Health, and the Australian Department of Health.
Queensland Health >
Australian Department of Health >
Australian Dept of Health Latest Coronavirus updates >
When assessing any information about health, some of the key questions to ask yourself are:
"Who wrote this?"
Reliable sources of information include government publications, peak bodies, and government-endorsed sites. If it is not clear who is running or funding the site you are looking at, visit the About Us or Contact Us pages to find out. If you still don’t find an answer there, consider looking for another site altogether. A reliable source of information will be transparent about their who they are and their sources of funding.
"What is the evidence for what they are saying?"
Information is likely to be trustworthy if is based on reputable research or official documents you can refer to. Testimonials, people's personal experience or opinion are not reliable sources of health information.
"Is it an objective view?"
Does the information seem balanced? Does it seem plausible? If the site is published by a private company or special interest group, consider also seeking out another point of view to see if there are other ways to think about the issue.
"Is it up to date?"
Information about COVID-19 is changing rapidly. Make sure the information you read has been published recently.
Where can I find out more about assessing health information?
The following sites will give you more information:
Health Direct: Assessing online information fact sheet >
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network: Evaluating health information >
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