The newsletter of the Health Care Consumers’ Association Inc.
Volume 16 / Issue 16 / 26 September 2025

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It is almost time for HCCA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and we want to let you know the date early so you can put it in your diaries.

What: HCCA’s AGM – buffet lunch followed by the meeting

When: Wednesday 12 November 2025

Where: Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden.

We will send out more information and details for how to register to attend in the next few weeks.

We’d like to draw your attention to an opportunity for active HCCA members to be sponsored to attend the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, which will be held in Canberra in November. For more details, see the Opportunities section below.

Darlene Cox
Executive Director

In this Issue

• Infrastructure Update
• Policy and Research Update
• Health Literacy Update
• Consumer Involvement and Representative Opportunities
• Items of Interest

Infrastructure Update

Kate and Yelena recently met with Patrice Higgins, Social Work Manager at Canberra Health Services, to hear an update on a new space HCCA members and staff strongly advocated for – the Family Respite Lounge in Building 5. Since the building’s opening nearly 12 months ago, the lounge has provided a private and supportive space for families when facing unexpected, traumatic events leading them to hospital.

The lounge is managed by the Social Work team and offers an access-controlled, private, quiet place for families to gather in circumstances where a person has been admitted to hospital in unplanned circumstances, such as a major accident or health emergency. 

Patrice was clear that the family lounge has been a valuable resource for consumers and families in Building 5. The lounge is in use by families several times each week. She gave several examples of circumstances where the care that was able to be provided to families by staff was more supportive, dignified and compassionate than would have been possible without this designated family space for families in crisis. 

HCCA will take the learnings from the Family Respite Lounge in Building 5 and apply that knowledge to advocacy for family and carer spaces in the new Northside Hospital.

Learnings from the first year highlight the need for services to budget for ongoing funding to maintain linen, cleaning, repairs and meals. There’s also a need for clearer communication around the intended use of the space, making sure it stays available for those who need it most in difficult situations.

Following the meeting, Patrice took Yelena, Ivapene and Av to tour the space and see the lounge firsthand. We discussed design improvements which could be made to similar spaces in future, including ways to support more privacy, extra storage, artwork, better safety design for staff and the possibility of including volunteers to help support families.

Left to Right: Ivapene, Yelena, Patrice Higgins, Av

— Yelena
(Infrastructure Project Officer)

HCCA has been working hard on a design advice paper to help guide the future design of the new Northside Hospital. The document provides a baseline of practical design principles and features that can be applied to consumer-facing spaces, ensuring they meet our community’s needs.

Kate had the opportunity to present this paper to Infrastructure Canberra, sharing lessons learnt from over 20 years of being involved in health infrastructure projects. The presentation focused on the core design principles, why they’re important and highlighted some of the key recommendations from consumers.

This paper is an important step in making sure consumer voices are considered in the hospital’s design process.

Policy and Research Update

This past fortnight, HCCA were thrilled to host a roundtable on the draft Consumer and Community Involvement in Research Statement. The statement was created by the National Health and Medical Research Council. It aims to guide and support consumer and community involvement in health and medical research.

The event brought together consumers, staff from community organisations, researchers and research bodies.

The main aim of the session was to review and share feedback on the draft, so that consumers. community members, and consumer groups are truly involved and included in the research process. 

— the Policy and Research team
(Jess, Stephen, and Shivana)

The Pharmacy Board of Australia is reviewing and updating its Guidelines for pharmacists on the safe provision of pharmacy services including medicines and advice.

The new draft refines and consolidate four existing guidelines into one document, including:

• Guidelines for dispensing of medicines
• Guidelines on practice-specific issues
• Guidelines for proprietor pharmacists
• Guidelines on dose administration aids and staged supply of dispensed medicines.

You can read the draft guideline and learn more about the consultation on the Ahpra Pharmacy Board website.

If you would like to contribute feedback to HCCA’s response to the consultation, please contact Jessica Lamb (email to: [email protected] or phone the HCCA office on 6230 7800)

Canberra Health Services have developed a policy setting out processes to minimise the risk of an adverse event due to prolonged wait times in the Emergency Department. This includes a clear process for timely review of patients when they are waiting.

If you are interested in reviewing this new policy, please contact Jessica Lamb, [email protected]or phone the HCCA office on 6230 7800) as soon as possible to receive a copy of the draft policy for review. Feedback closes on Thursday 28 August 2025.

Canberra Health Services is developing a procedure to help staff manage adult patients presenting with severe behaviours. This has been prompted by a recent increase in occupational violence faced by hospital staff.

This procedure outlines the strategies that can be put in place to manage adults with acute severe behavioural disturbance. It applies to adults presenting to the Emergency Department or admitted to hospital.

If you would like to receive a copy of the draft procedure and provide feedback, please contact Jessica Lamb ([email protected] or phone the HCCA office on 6230 7800)

Health Literacy Update

HCCA’s collaboration with the University of Canberra continue with Ivapene presenting ‘Culturally Appropriate Health Care’ session to 3^rd year Occupational Therapy students. The session provided important preparation for the students before attending practical placements in the coming weeks. This session is usually provided to final year OT students.

Culturally Appropriate Healthcare Session - UC Occupational Therapy Students Aug 2025 

— the Health Literacy team
(C and Ivapene)

The DAIP has been in place to guide how Canberra Health Services improves the experience and outcomes of people with disability, their carers and families. They are now asking for feedback on what has worked well (or not) and what should be included in the next plan.

Little is known about ACT residents’ current understanding of end-of-life choices. The Getting Ready project is researching ACT residents’ current knowledge and understanding of end-of-life choices to develop education resources. They’d like to hear from you about your understanding of end-of-life care and your learning needs.

Learn about Living Well, Living Strong with Parkinson’s at the Parkinson’s ACT Conference on 29^th October. The day will include sessions from expert researchers, health professionals and information stalls to help you live well with Parkinson’s.

Tickets are $40 per person including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

Health Literacy Update - QUM Program

The QUM team have been busy wrapping up work on our Grant #1 topics:

• Antidepressants in Older People
• Oral Anticoagulants for Atrial Fibrillation

We are now working on our final reporting for Grant #1.

Darcy supported Marion from Eczema Support Australia (ESA) recently at their HealthEd Conference stall in Melbourne as part of our work with the QUM Alliance.

ESA have been working hard to promote resources to GPs! This includes a step-by-step guide for assessing and treating eczema in primary care and plan for consumers to manage their eczema at home. About 200 GPs stopped at the stall to take resources and hear more about the QUM alliance. It was encouraging to hear that GPs were interested in even more resources for consumers. We were able to direct them to the resources created through the QUM grant, as well as the overall ESA resource library.

Left to Right: Darcy and Marion at Health Ed Conference

HCCA is partnering with researchers at the University of Sydney. The researchers would like to interview people who have had menopause symptoms to better understand this experience. Your experience can be current or in the past. Your insights will help us to create information and education to help other people with these symptoms. 

We welcome people from all backgrounds. If you're a person with a disability, from a multicultural background, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or part of the LGBTQIA+ community, live in a rural or regional area we'd love to hear from you! 

Interested in being involved?

To register, please fill out this form or email [email protected] with any questions!

Participants will received a $30 gift card as a thank you for their time.

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.

This year, the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare will be held in Canberra in November. HCCA will sponsor a number of consumer representatives and active members to attend this conference.

This opportunity will be of interest to HCCA consumer representatives who are interested in the quality and safety of healthcare and working with health services to improve quality and safety. HCCA members who are working with us in areas such as policy and research are also encouraged to apply.

Dates: 19 - 21 November 2025 

Location: QT Canberra

To find out more about this conference, go to the conference website here.

To submit an expression of interest for sponsored attendance at this conference, complete the Sponsorship form on the HCCA opportunities page here.

If you have questions or would like to discuss this opportunity, please get in touch with our consumer representatives coordinator [email protected] 

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

Closing Date: 15 September 2025 

When: 4th Wednesday of the month, 1-3pm (Usually one hour, online)

The Policy Review Panel reviews final drafts of policies, procedures and guidelines from any area of Canberra Health Services. Documents may provide guidance to staff on sensitive or higher-risk topics and procedures. Each reviewer is assigned 2-3 documents to review, with the consumer representatives able to choose what they consider most important to review.

This would suit a consumer who enjoys reviewing documents and providing feedback and comments. Panel members do not need to have expertise in the subject matter of the documents, they're there to check that the documents provide clear, applicable guidance for any staff using them, including people who may be new to their roles. The review panel would like to have multiple consumer representatives sitting on the panel and providing feedback.

To nominate for this opportunity, please complete the nomination form here.

To learn more, please visit the Consumer Opportunities page on our website.

Closing Date: 14 September 2025

When: Three online meetings a year until June 2026

The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) Social Science Unit are recruiting two consumers to join their existing national Consumer Advisory Group. This is an opportunity to give your input and advice to help guide current and upcoming research projects. The project is for all immunisations, but does tend to lean more towards immunisations of children and teenagers.

This would suit consumers who are passionate about immunisations, preventing vaccine preventable diseases and improving vaccine rates in their community.

You can read the terms of reference here.

To nominate for this opportunity, please complete the nomination form here.

To learn more, please visit the Consumer Opportunities page on our website.

Items of Interest

In this article, the Conversation discuss a new survey highlights the experiences of students with disabilities in Australian schools. Families report high rates of bullying, exclusion from activities, and even disbelief from teachers about conditions like ADHD. Many children feel unwelcome or unsafe at school, with some facing restrictive practices and seclusion. Researchers stress that these issues are systemic, not isolated, and call for urgent reforms—such as disability-aware anti-bullying strategies, better teacher training, and more inclusive school cultures.

Since 2019, this survey has captured the lived experiences of women and non-binary people across Canberra. We want to know what matters most to you – your experiences, challenges, and ideas.

This year, we’re aiming for 5,000 responses. By sharing your experiences and encouraging others in your community to do the same, you can help shape better outcomes for all Canberrans.

The insights you provide will directly inform YWCA Canberra’s advocacy, influencing policies around safety, housing, financial wellbeing, mental health, and gender equity.

Gloves Off is a campaign for emergency departments to cut unnecessary glove use—boosting hand hygiene, saving money, and reducing environmental harm, all through manageable, real-world steps.

**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 Kate Gorman.

Our mailing address is:
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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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