The newsletter of the Health Care Consumers’ Association Inc.
 Issue 20 / 19 October 2026

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second term with the Ministerial Advisory Council for Multiculturalism 2026-2029. This council provides advice to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs on issues affecting multicultural communities and helps make sure that the voices of culturally and linguistically diverse Canberrans are reflected in ACT Government policies, programs and services. Pene's longstanding
commitment to supporting multiculturalism benefits all of us. Thank you for the
difference you make in the world Pene!

Caption: Ivapene Seiuli with the newly elected Ministerial Advisory Council for Multiculturalism

You may have heard that the ACT Government has accepted a recommendation to consider making emergency ambulance call-outs free. It currently costs $1,180 for a call-out. In this ABC News article, I have supported this proposal and recommended that the ACT join with the Tasmanian and Queensland governments, which both cover ambulance fees. This is a great example of where removal of this cost can make a difference in making sure people seek help when needed, without worrying about how they will afford it afterwards. 

The ACT Mental Health Act is currently under review. I have attended several consultation sessions with the ACT Government and ACT Chief Psychiatrist and Care Coordinator Dr Anthony Cidoni. My feedback has mostly focused on how the Act can better inform consumer input, rights and informed consent around care. Given the significant increase in prevalence of mental illness and mental distress in the last 20 years, this is increasingly becoming an important and central issue around consumer rights when receiving care.

Lachlan Atyeo
Executive Director

In this Issue

• Upcoming HCCA events
• Health Literacy Update
• Consumer Involvement and Representative Opportunities
• Items of Interest

Upcoming HCCA Events

Thursday 22 October, 2pm – 3:30pm 

Online via Zoom 

Hear from literacy researchers, Saffron Howden and Dr Julie Ayre, about the skills and knowledge you need to check health claims from news, social media and AI in 2026's digital landscape.

Monday 26 October, 12pm - 1:30pm 

Online via Zoom 

This free training presented by HCCA’s Health Literacy Officer and Multicultural Liaison Officer will teach you how community and health workers can help consumers build their health literacy to get better health outcomes.

Tuesday 10 November, 12pm – 2:30pm 

Southern Cross Club Woden 

Join us for afternoon tea and a chat with community organisations and health services that can help you and your loved ones live well with long-term health conditions.

Every Thursday 2pm – 4pm @ Chifley Health & Wellbeing Hub

Come join Grow ACT's new free Mental Wellbeing Peer Support Group at Chifley!

If you're living with a chronic health condition or simply looking for a welcoming space to connect with others, this ongoing peer support group offers a safe and confidential place to share experiences and support your mental wellbeing.

Consumer Participation Update

Health Literacy Update

This fortnight, the team has been out and about presenting on: 

• Advance Care Planning for the National Seniors Association Southside 
• Stretching your Health Dollar with Care Financial Services 
• Culturally Appropriate Healthcare for University of Canberra Pharmacy Students 

Caption: Ivapene and Mallika (HCCA), Diane Percy (Asthma Australia) with University of Canberra Pharmacy Students 

On 25-26 September, Ivapene attended the Oceania Pacific Health Association (OPHA) conference in Brisbane. The conference theme was ‘Weaving Networks: Strengthening Pacific Health Together’. It had a strong focus on working with consumers and communities to design programs, making cultural safety a measure of quality and making sure the people we advocate for are visible in the data used to make health-system decisions.  

Caption L to R: Dr. Eta Raicebe, Anasina Gray-Barberio, Ivapene Seiuli, and Dr. Kuinileti Changwai at the OPHA Conference 2026

Health literacy month is here once again! Take this opportunity to help yourself and others find, understand and act on health information. 

Here are some things you can do: 

• Share tips for finding good health information with your friends and family, like those from Canberra Health Literacy Hub or Sydney Health Literacy Lab. 

• Build your digital literacy skills with e-learning from Good Things Australia 

• Come to one of our upcoming events. 

If you are a health care worker, you can: 

• challenge your colleagues to a Drop the Jargon quiz 

• learn how to use the Teach-Back method to make sure people understand key health information 

• read about ways to make your service more health literate on the Canberra Health Literacy Hub 

• join us for free training on supporting health literacy. 

— the Health Literacy team
(C and Ivapene)

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.

ACT Opportunities

This working group will provide advice and oversight on preventing pressure injuries (PI). Its goal is to reduce the rate of pressure injuries that occur during a hospital stay.  The working group will also support the review and implementation of the Canberra Health Services' (CHS) Pressure Injury Prevention and Management Procedure. 

This role would suit a representative who can provide input and ideas on practical ways to identify risks early and prevent pressure injuries for people receiving care in hospital.  

This committee meets monthly and will conclude in June 2027. The next meeting will be held on 18 November. 

Read the Terms of Reference for this committee. 

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

Applications close on 31 October. 

The Clinical Risk and Audit Committee works to improve the quality of diagnostic imaging services and patient care at Canberra Imaging Group (CIG). It will do this through regular review and assessment of their clinical practices. 

The consumer representative will help make sure CIG’s policies, procedures, quality and safety practices meet both regulatory standards and the needs of patients and healthcare partners. 

This role is suitable for a representative who is confident or willing to develop their skills in system oversight, as well as engaging in discussions about what is working well and what could be improved to support better patient care. 

Read the Terms of Reference for this committee, which includes the CIG Consumer induction manual. 

This committee meets online four times a year. The next meeting is on 2 December from 5:30-7:30pm. 

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

Applications close on 8 November.  

Canberra Health Services (CHS) is looking for consumer, carer or community members to join the Consumer, Carer and Community Engagement in Research (C3ER) Sub-Group. 

This group will provide advice on: 

• how people find out about research opportunities, 
• how consent is requested, 
• how information is written, 
• the time and costs involved in taking part,
• how people give feedback or raise a concern, and 
• how research results are shared with the community. 

CHS is interested in hearing from people who have: 

• taken part in research, such as a clinical trial 
• supported someone who has participated in research, or 
• worked as a consumer or carer partner on a research project team. 

Read the Expression of Interest and Terms of Reference for more information 

The C3ER sub-group will meet online for 90 minutes on the fourth Wednesday of each month, expecting to start February 2027. 

To submit an Expression of Interest, please send a brief (no more than one page) outlining your interest to Leah Matthews at [email protected] by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, 4 November 2026.

National/Interstate Opportunities

Monash University, in collaboration with Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, invites consumers and carers with experience of critical illness to share their questions about nutrition care. 

The researchers want to know what questions consumers would like researchers to answer about nutrition care during critical illness and injury in adults. 

For more information, read the explanatory statement and the support document.  

You can fill out the 10-minute survey until mid-December. If you have any questions, please contact Emily Kilic at [email protected].

Items of Interest

The Australian Government is changing parts of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). These changes will start on 1 October 2026. There will be changes to how much funding someone can get for support to take part in their community and learn to do more things for themselves in their everyday life. Funding for some supports will not change such as high intensity supports and complex behaviour supports. To learn more, please visit the NDIS website. 

World Menopause Day is held every year on 18 October. Menopause is the time your regular menstrual period bleeding ends. It generally happens between the ages 45 and 55. This day aims to raise awareness of menopause and improve the experience of women around the world. For more information and resources on menopause, please visit our Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) website. 

World Stroke Day is on 29 October. It is a day to raise awareness of stroke symptoms as 1 in 4 of us will have a stroke. The four key stroke signs can be remembered as FAST - F for face drooping, A for arm weakness, S for speaking difficulty, and T for time to get medical attention. For more information, please visit the Stroke Foundation website.

Give us Your Feedback

What did you think of this issue? Give us your feedback through this linked microsoft form.

Would you like to chat about any of these things? Please email us at [email protected] for your feedback. We would love to hear from you!

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

© 2026 Health Care Consumers' Association Inc, All rights reserved. Edited by Lachlan Atyeo.

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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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