The newsletter of the Health Care Consumers’ Association Inc.
Volume XX / Issue YY / 1 April 2025

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Over the weekend, the HCCA team had the pleasure of participating in the Multicultural Festival, celebrating the diversity of our community and engaging with people about their health care experiences - including some of our own members! It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with consumers, hear their stories, and share information on how HCCA advocates for consumers to shape a more inclusive and responsive health system.

This year, we remain committed to our key health priorities:

• Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD)
• Planned Care
• Quality Use of Medicines (QUM): Using Medicines for Better Health
• Disability Health Literacy
• Northside Hospital Planning

More information on these issues is below. 

From 3 November 2025, Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) will be available in the ACT, providing eligible individuals with greater choice at the end of life.

HCCA is playing a key role in supporting the ACT Government with stakeholder engagement and the development of consumer materials to ensure the community is well-informed. Jessica Lamb represents HCCA on the VAD Consumer and Consultative Committee, chaired by Darlene Cox.

Recruitment for members of the VAD Oversight Board is now underway. More details are provided under 'Other Opportunities''.

Canberra Health Services (CHS) is enhancing access to outpatient appointments and elective surgery through the CHS Operations Centre in 2025. This initiative aims to improve coordination and reduce wait times for patients needing planned care.

HCCA is actively involved, with Shivana Chandra representing consumers on the weekly Planned Care Committee. Darlene Cox is also meeting monthly with the CHS Executive and engaging regularly with the Minister’s office to ensure consumer voices are heard.

To strengthen consumer input, we are establishing a Consumer Reference Group. Stay tuned for more details on this.

The Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Project continues to support better health outcomes through safe and effective medicine use. With a focus on gout, antidepressant use in older people, anticoagulant use for atrial fibrillation, and eczema, the project is led by Kathryn Briant and Nadia Owuor.

The current QUM grant runs until October 2025, and we have applied for further funding to continue this important work — an announcement is expected soon.

Learn more about the project on our QUM website.  

The Disability Health Literacy (DHL) Project is supporting people with disability to better navigate the healthcare system and make informed health decisions. Running until August 2025, the project is being conducted by C Moore and Shivana Chandra, with Kate Gorman chairing the Consumer Reference Group.

Regular updates on this important work will continue in our newsletter. Learn more about the project on our website.

HCCA is actively contributing to key projects within the ACT Government’s Health Infrastructure program, including the planning of the new Northside Hospital and improvements to community health centres.

We are working closely with the Health Directorate, Canberra Health Services, and Infrastructure Canberra to ensure consumer perspectives shape these developments. This project runs until December 2026 and is managed by Kate Gorman.

To support this work, we will soon be recruiting a Project Officer. Keep an eye out for more information.

Darlene Cox
Executive Director

In this Issue

• Upcoming HCCA Events
• Policy and Research Update
• Health Literacy Update
• Consumer Involvement and Representative Opportunities

Upcoming HCCA Events

Thursday, 27 February, 10:30am – 12pm
Venue

It can be hard to find health information that is safe and reliable online. There are many websites claiming to share information that will help improve your health or even ‘cure’ serious health conditions. It’s important to know how to spot a website that might be misleading you and how to double check health claims online.

In this online session, we will discuss:

• What to look for when searching for health information
• Warning signs of misleading websites and links
• How to check health information from searches, social media and news
• Some known trusted websites for health information

Policy and Research Update

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) has released their Medicine Safety: Child and Adolescent Care report. Many medication safety incidents are preventable.

The report highlights the need to drive change in quality use of medicines, including:

• addressing harm from medicines,
• ensuring safer practices around medicines, and
• improving health outcomes for young people.

Read more in PSA's Medicine Safety: Child and Adolescent Care report.

Health Literacy Update

It’s been great to get back into the swing of things with one of our favourite events – the National Multicultural Festival! The team was busy with a few events over the weekend. We shared health resources with the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council for Multiculturalism’s (MACM) stall on Saturday. The MACM team spoke to over 200 attendees from more than 50 different cultural backgrounds, on a range of topics including healthcare services.

On Sunday, we joined the Canberra Multicultural Community Forum (CMCF) stall and spoke to over 50 people and 8 organisations throughout the day. We shared a range of resources on where to go for your health services in Canberra, staying safe in hospital and giving feedback in the health system.

One of the highlights of the festival was attending the Australian Multicultural Action Network’s (AMAN) showcase of ‘Echoes from the Delta: A Cultural Odyssey’, where vibrant and culturally rich performances from across the globe was displayed. It was an amazing celebration of peace and unity in diversity. 

We are thrilled to have responses coming into our survey of people with disability and carers on health literacy – but we still need your help to spread the word! Head over to our website to find out how to do the survey and share it with people you know.

— the Health Literacy team
(C and Ivapene)

Did you know The Hospital Research Foundation Group - Parkinsons ACT has a free Specialised Parkinson's Nursing Service? They can visit homes to perform full clinical assessments, helping you understand Parkinson's on a systems-wide level, and offer suggestions and advice to assist with symptom management. Their goal is to maintain your independence, from early prevention to later stage interventions.

You can self-refer or get a referral from your doctor for this service. Contact them on their website or call 1800 644 189.

A reminder that HCCA’s Resource Library has a range of free downloadable resources to help people navigate the health system, understand their rights and make the most of their health care.

We have printed copies of many of our resources available for community groups, including all our Easy Read and Translated resources. Contact the office if you would like some for your group.

Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) will soon be offered as a new end-of-life choice for ACT residents. This means new end-of-life educational resources will be needed. But little is known about ACT residents’ current understanding of end-of-life choices including (but not limited to) VAD.

The Getting Ready project wants to hear from any adult living in the ACT about your views and understanding of end-of-life choices. You can participate by doing the online survey or signing up for an interview.

HCCA’s work continues on our Using Medicines for Better Health Project. A range of resources can be accessed through our Consumer Hub for Quality Use of Medicines.

Visit the updated Antidepressants in Older People topic page to access:

• Depression and Anxiety in Life: Getting Back to Feeling Well
• My Antidepressant Deprescribing Plan, and
• Our newest resource: Do I still need my antidepressant? 5 questions to ask

Stay tuned for more resources on Antidepressants in Older People coming soon!

Consumer Involvement and Representative Opportunities

Please visit Consumer Opportunities on the HCCA website to learn more about, and nominate for, any of the following opportunities.

Closing date: 13 March 2025

Capital Health Network is looking for a consumer representative to join the Capital Health Network Clinical Advisory Council. The role of the council is to provide advice and feedback to the Capital Health Network (CHN) Board and management about CHN key projects, commissioning initiatives, and strategic objectives. The Clinical Council provide recommendations to the Board on key Commonwealth deliverables and initiatives relating to CHNs priority areas. The council meets minimum 4 times per year in person or online.

For full information, please visit the Consumer Opportunities page on our website.

Closing date: 13 March 2025

Capital Health Network (CHN) is looking for two consumer representatives to join the Capital Health Network Community Advisory Council. The role of the community council is to provide recommendations/advice to the CHN Board and the CEO on community priority health needs and service gaps. The council also assesses if CHN activities, strategies and initiatives are consumer-focused (based on consumer feedback and preferences). The Community Advisory Council will also work with CHN’s Advisory Councils and, other community consultation mechanisms via ACT health. The Community Advisory Council meets minimum four times per year in person or online. Each meeting may last 2-3 hours.

For full information, please visit the Consumer Opportunities page on our website.

Closing date: 13 March 2025

Canberra Health Services is looking for a consumer representative to join the Bariatric Surgery Advisory Committee (BSAC). The role of BSAC is to evaluate whether patients are suitable for publicly funded metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS), specifically laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), to help with weight loss and related health benefits. BSAC members will review summaries of patients referred for MBS, advise on patient suitability for MBS, monitor key performance Indicators, wait times, number of surgeries performed per financial year, average length of stay and post-operative outcomes. Meetings are held in person approximately every two months.

For full information, please visit the Consumer Opportunities page on our website.

Closing date: 13 March 2025

Canberra Health Services is looking for a consumer representative to join the Policy Document Review Panel. The panel’s role is to provide advice to guide policy development. The panel provides oversight of CHS policy documents reviews evaluations of high-risk documents with any relevant lessons learned fed back to divisions, committees or working groups. The panel makes sure policies are person centred, evidence-based and focused on the needs of consumers and carers, as well as aligning with legislation and other requirements (e.g., National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards). The panel meets once a month on every fourth Wednesday.

For full information, please visit the Consumer Opportunities page on our website.

Closing date: 3 March 2025

Applications are open to join the ACT Voluntary Assisted Dying Oversight Board.

People who apply should have a connection to the ACT and have relevant knowledge and experience in:

🩺 medicine

🤝🏽nursing

💊 pharmacy

🤲🏽social work

🧾ethics

⚖ law

🙋🏽‍♀️health care consumer advocacy

👨‍🦽 disability or carer advocacy

Board members will work together to make sure the ACT’s voluntary assisted dying service is operating safely and following the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2024.

More information about the Voluntary Assisted Dying Oversight Board and how to apply is available on the ACT Diversity Register website.

Anyone can apply to the Diversity Register on this page here. You will need to provide some of your contact details and some information about yourself. Please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions about the Board.

If the topic of voluntary assisted dying raises issues for you, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Griefline on 1300 845 745.

**FREE interpreter services available over the phone via the Australian Government’s Translation and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450**

© 2025 Health Care Consumers' Association Inc, All rights reserved. Edited by Darlene Cox.

Our mailing address is:
70 Maclaurin Crescent Chifley ACT 2606
02 6230 7800

Consumer Bites is the newsletter of the Health Care Consumers' Association. Consumer Bites provides a small snippet of health related articles our members might find interesting to consider and analyse. The HCCA does not endorse any opinions or the claims contained within the articles.

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