The newsletter of the Health Care Consumers’ Association Inc.
 Issue 22 / 28 November 2025

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The HCCA Annual General Meeting was held on 12 November 2025. It was good to see so many people in person.

Congratulations to all the people who were elected to positions on the Executive Committee. Tony was re-elected as Treasurer, and we welcome Ravia and Vaness to the committee.

The Executive Committee for 2025 are:

President - Linda Trompf

Vice President - Karin Calford

Treasurer - Tony Krizan

General members - Karen McKernan, Izzy Moss, Keith Willenberg, Miriam Pavic, Ravi Krishnamurthy and Vanessa Goss

Caption L to R: Ravi Krishnamurthy, Keith Willenberg, Miriam Pavic, Linda Trompf, Karen McKernan and Tony Krizan

Captions L to R: Emma Baldock and Linda Trompf

HCCA has a policy of making a donation to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in recognition of contribution of retiring EC members. This is part of our commitment to reconciliation, and also our believe that literacy is power.

In October 2025 the EC unanimously endorsed awarding Honorary Life Membership to Louise Bannister.

Honorary life membership is a special membership category designed to recognise and celebrate individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the work of HCCA and the health consumer movement.

Louise has demonstrated long term commitment to the consumer movement and to HCCA. She is an active member and contributes across the organisation. Lou is always open to sharing her skills and experience with others and is generous in supporting other consumer reps. In addition to her consumer rep roles, Lou was a staff member for a short time, a member of the Executive Committee, and she continues to contribute to the work of operational committees and consumer reference groups.

Lou’s contribution has had a lasting impact on HCCA and the wider community and we are thrilled to recognise Lou in this way.

Darlene Cox
Executive Director

In this Issue

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

Infrastructure Update

You may have seen recent media about the new Northside Hospital project being considered for designation as a Territory Priority Project (TPP). This term is a new designation created in the 2023 ACT planning reforms.

In summary, a TPP is decided by the Minister for Planning and Sustainable Development. A project needs to meet certain criteria to have this designation, including that the project:

1. achieves a major government policy outcome that is of significant benefit to the people of the ACT; and
2. helps achieve the desired future planning outcomes set out in the ACT Planning Strategy, a relevant District Strategy, the Territory Plan or any relevant zone; and
3. is for significant infrastructure or facilities that are of significant benefit to the people of the ACT

A TPP is exempt from third party appeals in ACAT.
You can find out more about Territory Priority Projects on the ACT Planning website.

If you scroll through you will see information about the Northside Hospital project and how to submit your feedback. There is also a link to supporting documentation about the Northside Hospital Project.

ACT Government consultation is open until the 27 November. HCCA is also keen to hear any views or concerns you have about this, and you can share them with us by contacting our Infrastructure Officer Janine at [email protected] or 6230 7800.

— Janine
(Infrastructure Project Officer)

Policy and Research Update

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) and HCCA are running a focus group to learn more about people’s experiences of using pathology services.   

This is part of a national consultation being done by the Commission to develop National Pathology Standards. The National Pathology Standard has been developed to protect the public from harm and improve the quality of pathology services.  

We would like to hear from people over 18 years old who:   

• Have used a pathology service in the last 6-12 months. 

Carers are also welcome to join.   

Date: Monday 1 December 2025 

Time: 1pm – 2:30pm 

Where: Online via Teams 

Your experiences will help us understand people’s experiences of using pathology services and how we can improve the safety and quality of these services. You will receive a $100 gift voucher for your time!  

You can express your interest in joining by completing this form  

Canberra Health Services is seeking consumer feedback on a new procedure for discharging patients who have completed their treatment but cannot return home.

HCCA often hears about consumers who remain in hospital, sometimes for long periods, because they need extra support after treatment and are waiting for appropriate aged-care arrangements. We want to make sure the new process for discharging patients into aged care is clear, fair, and supports people’s needs.

If you’d like to review the procedure and share your thoughts, please contact
Jessica Lamb at [email protected] or call the HCCA office on 02 6230 7800.

Your feedback is important and appreciated.

Canberra Health Services (CHS) has asked HCCA to provide feedback on a new procedure that helps people plan for their future mental health care.

The Mental Health Act 2015 allows people to record their treatment preferences while they can make decisions. This can be done through an Advance Agreement, an Advance Consent Direction, or by choosing a Nominated Person. The new procedure explains how CHS staff can support consumers to use these options.

If you would like to review the procedure and share your feedback, please contact Jessica Lamb at [email protected] or call 02 6230 7800.

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

Health Literacy Update

Last week, Ivapene was down in Melbourne for the National Multicultural Health & Wellbeing Conference.

C headed over to the Henry Retirement Village for their Harmony and Health Day on Thursday to share information about health services and healthcare rights.

— the Health Literacy team
(C and Ivapene)

The Australian Government has put out some new resources to help pregnant people understand types of care, health tests and common conditions during pregnancy. You can use them to help you talk about your options with your health care team. Download the resources here.

The University of Sydney is running online focus groups on how health workers can help women aged 45 and over manage their asthma. To take part you need to:

• Be a woman
• Be aged over 45
• Use a prescribed inhaler for your asthma

To take part, fill in the form here. You can learn more about the study on the participant information sheet.

Last week The Canberra Hospital food services department invited HCCA consumer representatives and staff on a behind-the-scenes tour of the hospital kitchen, to see how a patient's meal ends up on their plate. This served as a great opportunity for people to understand the processes and people behind the food they eat when in hospital.

Caption L to R: Miriam Pavic, Emma Baldock, Shivana Chandra and Keith Willenberg gowned up to inspect the Canberra Health Services kitchens.

Chronic Conditions Network Update

Last week, some of the organisations from the Chronic Conditions Network met up with the ACT School Youth Health Nurse director to share information, resources and crossovers from Diabetes Australia, Asthma Australia and Epilepsy ACT and the ACT public high school system. I find it a very satisfying part of my job when I can introduce people from the health services to members of the network and create pathways and partnerships between the community health and public health systems.

— Michelle
(Chronic Conditions Network Coordinator)

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.

 New!  

The Australian Frailty Network is developing a new frailty education website designed for consumers, caregivers, and anyone interested in healthy ageing. This website will empower people to prevent and manage frailty through accessible and user-friendly education and resources. 

They would like to hear from consumers (people affected by frailty, at risk of experiencing frailty, or interesting in healthy ageing), caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, educators, and peak body/advocacy organisations.

Your input will help to develop a website that empowers Australians to age well.

You can get involved and complete a survey and let the researchers know:

• What topics and information you would like included on the website 
• What design features will make the website easy to use and navigate 
• Any other features the website should include 
• What the website should be called

By completing the survey, you can go into the draw to receive a gift card.

If you would like a paper copy of the survey or have any questions about the research, please contact Dr Sakshi Chopra: [email protected]

Items of Interest

Victoria's Inquiry into Women's Pain has found a dismissive and disrespectful healthcare system built around "Caucasian male biology" is contributing to poorer outcomes for women and girls.

The most common conditions women were experiencing included period, pain, endometriosis and arthritis.

Click here to read full article.

Jean Kittson has turned her grief over her parents' traumatic deaths into a public campaign for better palliative care in Australia. She's calling for more specialist care, better training in aged-care, and earlier end-of-life planning. 

Click here to read full article. 

GROW is running a community conversation about mental health and wellbeing for multicultural communities.

Join them at 12-1:30pm at Weston Creek Community Centre.

Register on Humanitix.

ACT Mental Health Consumer Network are running a workshop to help people take control of their mental health care before they need to, by completing a My Rights, My Decisions form kit.

This is a free workshop on Wednesday the 26^th of November, 10:30am-1pm. For more information and to register place go the Mental Health Consumer Network event page.

**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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