Victorian Consumers Participate in Health

Conference

On 12 October 2005, Health Issues Centre hosted a conference in Melbourne, titled "Victorian Consumers Participate in Health". Eleven Community Advisory Committees from across the Melbourne metropolitan area gave presentations demonstrating the diverse ways in which Community Advisory Committees have responded to addressing consumer participation in their health network. The Victorian Minister for Health, the Hon. Bronwyn Pike, opened the conference and reaffirmed her government's commitment to consumer participation in health at all levels.

Keynote speakers

Keynote speakers, Kathy Alexander and Mike Kennedy, drew on their own experience in influencing lasting change in health systems, to provide very practical and useful information for people working as consumers on health service committees.

Kathy Alexander focussed on the importance of communication, of getting out into the community and talking with the people who will be affected by decisions of the health service. She concluded her presentation with some reminders for achieving sound community participation including:

• inform the participants;
• designing the process is important - design it for an outcome and let people know what it is;
• don't go for detail - go for principles;
• don't talk jargon;
• don't be afraid to say we made a mistake - people like honesty;
• let key staff observe - it helps with culture change;
• follow up with surveys to test the extent of agreement in the community; and
• don't wait to get it perfect - have a go.

Kathy Alexander's PowerPoint presentation

Mike Kennedy's presentation focussed on some key areas for consumers on community advisory committees including:

• managing the information flow through delegation and working groups, using different methods for novel and routine items, and using informal as well as formal meetings;
• how to get support from internal sources such as your Chairperson and external sources such as training, mentors, and links with other Community Advisory Committees;
• being aware and developing a sense of areas of tension; and
• being strategic.

Mike Kennedy's PowerPoint presentation
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Themes and challenges

At the end of the day, Mike Kennedy summarised several themes and challenges that had emerged from the day's presentations and discussions and created this take home message:

"There is enormous value in today's sharing of stories and experiences. We need to make this a regular (annual) event".

Overarching themes:

• Benefits of strong Board and Management team support for CAC work (a champion).
• Visible leadership support sends a strong statement to the health service.
• Our communities are diverse-- therefore our methods for consulting them and enabling their participation need to be diverse.
• Access and support issues - car parking and childcare are core threshold issues for meaningful community/consumer participation.
• Successful and passionate advocacy can make a difference and can bring about real changes.
• "What is the role of the CAC?" is still an open question.

Challenges:

• How to get input to Community Advisory Committees and the Health Service from rural and regional consumers/communities - do they have to come to us or can we go to them?
• How do we identify, capture and celebrate how consumer/community participation is adding value to planning, service design and delivery, evaluation etc.?
• If the Christmas fairy did not put a champion in your stocking, how/where do you find or make one?
• How does the consumer/community participation movement, and Community Advisory Committees in particular, engage with culturally and linguistically diverse communities in a way that moves beyond tokenism?
• Let's not beat ourselves up.
• What can a Community Advisory Committees be expected to achieve realistically? What are our benchmarks?
• How do we know what other Community Advisory Committees are doing?
  
  PowerPoint presentation

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Community Advisory Committee Presentations
Summaries of the Community Advisory Committees' Presentations
Some of these PowerPoint presentations take a long time to download, if you experience difficulties please email Diane Lowther.

Consumers Have a Say in Shaping the Future Direction of Health Services
Eastern Health
Eastern Health, with the assistance of their CAC, held a series of community information sessions across their catchment, providing an open invitation to the community to come along and hear about the draft Strategic Plan proposals and to be involved in open discussion. This feedback was consolidated and forwarded to Eastern Health for discussion and consideration in the final development of the Strategic Plan.
PowerPoint presentation
Presenter's notes pdf

Health for Kids a Journey with Consumers
Southern Health
This project aimed to improve health care for children in the southern region.From the beginning the intention was to involve consumers in the project… but how to do it? The last 18 months have been a journey with our consumer group - from developing a plan for consumer involvement to having effective consumer participation in all aspects of the project. We would like to share with others what we have learnt through this journey.
PowerPoint presentation
Presenter's notes pdf

Living to Learn and Learning to Live
Dental Health Services Victoria
Dental Health Services Victoria staff and management are learning together to listen to our community, with the guidance and support of the Community Advisory Committee. It is a process of empowering the public and staff to be able to engage in two-way communication. Knowledge is power and the public often finds itself powerless when working with health services. The presentation will explore how the Community Advisory Committee is working with Dental Health Services Victoria as it learns to communicate and work together.
PowerPoint presentation
Presenter's notes pdf

Community Advisory Committee's Role in the Redevelopment of the Women's Hospital
Women's Health
The establishment of the Community Advisory Committee in July 2000 coincided with the hospital's decision to review its redevelopment plans. This presentation will discuss the role that the Community Advisory Committee played in ensuring that women in Victoria were consulted about the decision to build a new women's hospital and that the design of the hospital responds to women's values and expectations about health care.
PowerPoint presentation

" The Craigieburn Experience: A Consumer Perspective or View"
Northern Health
This presentation focussed on the difficulties/frustration of being a consumer on a government department appointed advisory group (Craigieburn Super Clinic), as opposed to achieving some action as an individual. The presentation explores the differences between working from within the system and working outside the system.
PowerPoint presentation

The Difficulties in Engaging Board and Senior Management in Consumer Participation
St Vincent's Health
This presentation explored the process that was established to engage the Board and Senior Management in consumer participation, and how the success of this has been demonstrated at the local level. For example, 87% of departmental quality/management plans now include consumer participation activities. Other outcomes were presented as well as feedback from key stakeholders about the process, and how this has assisted the organisation in improving the quality and safety of patient care.
PowerPoint presentation

Partners in Progress
Peninsula Health
The Peninsula Health presentation focussed on examples of how Peninsula Health has involved members from its three Community Advisory Committees and the local community. Examples include: the development of a Kitchen Garden at a local primary school; the development of a Men's Shed in collaboration with the local community; and the establishment of Community Kitchens.
PowerPoint presentation

The Importance of Consumer Participation in the Establishment of New Health Care Services and Facilities
Bayside Health
The presentation examined the establishment of a Community Participation Panel (CPP) as an integral part of The Alfred Centre project's governance structure. The CPP has cross-membership with Bayside Health's Community Advisory Committee as well as patient representatives, volunteers, and local community group members. The presentation focussed on how the views and experiences of Panel members have been integrated into numerous aspects of project planning and consumer involvement prior to the establishment of the Panel; experiences such as focus groups and 'shadowing' patients has used to learn from their experiences.
PowerPoint presentation

How Well Do Community Advisory Committees Respond to Cultural Diversity Issues?
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Our Community Advisory Committees was established to ensure that the consumer and community voice was heard within hospitals. This presentation explored the following questions: Are the voices of the 40% of Victorians who were born overseas or have at least one parent who was born overseas heard on the Community Advisory Committees? What strategies may be implemented to increase their representation on Community Advisory Committees? What would be the subsequent benefits to the consumers and the hospitals?
Presenter's notes pdf

A "Whole of Health Service" Approach
Austin Health
The presentation focuses on how Austin Health has taken a 'whole of health service" approach, working closely with their Community Advisory Committee. It describes the process used to strengthen the link between the Community Advisory Committee and the organisation, and embed consumer participation more strongly by developing organisational capacity.
PowerPoint presentation

Turning the Agenda on its Head: A Consumer Driven Agenda for an Effective Community Advisory Committee
Melbourne Health
The most important thing Melbourne Health has learnt in running an effective Community Advisory Committee is listening to the members themselves and recognising that they are the experts in consumer perspective. This presentation explored some of the strategies the Melbourne Health Community Advisory Committee has developed to strengthen both the role of the Committee and consumer participation across the organisation.
PowerPoint presentation
Presenter's notes pdf

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