The newsletter of the Health Care Consumers’ Association Inc.
Volume XX / Issue YY / 22 May 2025

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Exciting news! With great relief, I can announce that HCCA has signed a lease on office space at the Chifley Health and Wellbeing Hub, at 71 Maclaurin Crescent.

While many of the staff will miss working close to where we live on the northside, it’s probably time to give the southsiders back some of their travel time! We know that this location will be convenient for many of our members, not to mention the great café facilities nearby. We think the move will happen in late May or early June.

Watch this space for details – we are really looking forward to reconnecting with each other, and our members, in person!

Pictured: HCCA staff yesterday morning retrieving a few things from the Maitland House offices before the removalists take over.

These community tours will run every 15 minutes between 9am and 4pm on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 June 2024.

If you've been wondering what all the fuss is about, you can get your free ticket for a preview here: Behind the scenes tours of the Critical Services Building - Tickets | Eventbrite.

Would you be interested in taking part in a public health research project?

HCCA, in partnership with Sydney Health Literacy Lab, is researching how we can help older people who are prescribed antidepressants. Your experiences and opinions could make a difference for others.

We would like to talk to people who are:

• older people prescribed an antidepressant currently, or in the past 12 months,
• carers of older people prescribed an antidepressant currently, or in the past 12 months, including older people in residential aged care facilities,
• based in Australia and over 18 years of age.

To sign up for an interview, or to find out more, fill in your details here: Quality Use of Medicines Research – Antidepressants (qualtrics.com).

Learn more about the Using Medicines for Better Health Project.

Kate Gorman
Acting Director

In this Issue

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

Policy and Research Update

The HCCA Policy Team recently made a submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly Inquiry into Raising Children in the ACT. Our submission focused on access to health care for children and families. You may have seen our call for input in previous editions of Consumer Bites. You can read HCCA’s submission (and the submissions from other organisations and individuals) on the ACT Legislative Assembly website. HCCA’s submission is number 56.

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

AHPRA are developing a “Guide to embedding good practice in clinical placements, simulation-based learning and virtual care in student health practitioner education”. The Guide aims to provide evidence-based strategies for organisations involved in training and accrediting health practitioners to use. You can find the Consultation Paper on AHPRA’s website.

If you would like to provide input to HCCA’s feedback on the Guide, please email [email protected] or phone the office on 6230 7800 by Friday, 31 May 2024.

The National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) have had a Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research since 2006. It was last revised in 2016, and NHMRC and the Consumers Health Forum Australia are now working together to do another review.

The Statement aims to support consumer and community involvement across all types and levels of health and medical research.

You can read more online here:

• About the review
• Current NHMRC Statement (2016) on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health & Medical Research
• NHMRC Position Paper outlining rationale and scope of review
• Online survey (closes Friday, 31 May 2024)

You can share your feedback with HCCA or fill in the online survey above. If you would like provide input to HCCA, please email [email protected] by Monday, 20 May 2024.

Do you know of resources that help consumers decide whether to participate in health and medical research? If so, we’d love to see them! Please email [email protected].

Provide your input on the  Aged Care Infection Prevention and Control Guide (the IPC Guide) by filling out this survey. The IPC Guide is from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The survey is open until Wednesday, 15 May 2024.

The IPC Guide supports aged care organisations to reduce the risk of infection for older people and aged care workers.

The IPC Guide is part of the new strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards. The strengthened Standards are expected to be drafted into legislation in the new Aged Care Act expected later this year.

Health Literacy Update

Last week, C and Ivapene went to speak to first-year medical students at the ANU about the experiences of diverse consumer groups in health care. The students were really engaged and showed they are developing a great understanding of person-centred care.

Also last week, C supported 3 consumers – Graham Downie (ACT Disability Reference Group member), Emma Sharman (HCCA consumer representative), and Kim Adams (ACT Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability health ambassador) – to participate in a session with the Canberra Health Services Communications team on accessible communications in health care. They shared insights from their lived experiences and thoughts on what makes information about health care accessible for people with disability.

Ivapene joined a few activities for the Active Beginnings Activity Program that started on Monday 29 April. The program is a 6-week free activity program for multicultural women to improve their health and well-being and make new friends. You can register and find out more about the activities and program here: Active Beginnings activity program – University of Canberra.

Pictured: Attendees at Active Beginnings' first Zumba class last week.

— the Health Literacy team
(C and Ivapene)

Canberra Health Services recently partnered with HCCA to help test their new online tool to help the community find out more about local health services in Canberra.

The tool includes information about GP services and public, community-based health care services that people (mostly) don’t need a referral for. It also has information about non-government health related services.  

Thanks to the thoughtful feedback from HCCA members, they were able to make the following changes to the tool to benefit everyone:

• included pictures of the various health/concession cards people might use, to aid in health literacy
• included a more accurate indicator of length
• introduced a ‘start screen’ with more context about how the tool should be used
• simplified the wording used in some questions.

These are just some of the improvements made thanks to your contribution.

You can access the tool online here: Know where to go for your health care - Canberra Health Services.

Chronic Conditions Network Update

We had our online chronic conditions network meeting this month and had a great discussion with Liz Muldoon, Clinical Psychologist and Service Manager at Head to Health. Head to Health is the ACT’s free mental health service and navigator.

During our meeting, we concentrated on the intersection of mental health and chronic conditions, discussing how organisations, or their members, can access Head to Health and what will happen when they do.

Liz also gave the group some great support suggestions and a range of services to think about incorporating into their community organisations. We look forward to welcoming Liz to our in-person meeting at the end of May for more discussions.

Pictured: Online attendees at the last Chronic Conditions Network meeting.

— 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.

Closing date: Wednesday, 22 May 2024

Canberra Health Services (CHS) is looking for a consumer to join the Community Care Program Clinical Governance Committee. The committee aims to lead efforts in creating a safe and high-quality culture at CHS that involves patients, carers, and consumers.

This committee meets for one hour every two months.

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

 Closing Soon!  Closing date: Wednesday, 15 May 2024

The ACT Health Directorate’s Quality and Safety Leadership Network identifies and addresses issues around patient safety to improve the quality of care across the ACT health system. The Network aims to guide changes to the health system and improvements to clinical practice, by providing advice and demonstrating a culture of innovation and improvement.

This committee meets for two hours every second month.

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

 Closing Soon!  Closing date: Wednesday, 15 May 2024

The ‘Primary and Acute Care Data Linkage Project’ aims to connect information from primary care (like your GP) with information from acute care (like hospitals), to get a better idea of how patients move through the health care system.

This is a national project, with each state and territory having a consultation group of key stakeholders and experts to provide insights and advice. The ACT Health Directorate is looking for two consumers to join the ACT consultation group.

This group will start in May 2024 and hold up to ten 2-hour meetings over the following 12 months.

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

 New!  Closing date: 11:30pm, Sunday, 26 May 2024

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is looking for consumer representatives to fill positions on seven statutory advisory committees.

If you are selected, you will give advice and support the TGA, helping them make important decisions on a wide range of issues related to medicines, medical devices, vaccines, and other products and substances. This is to make sure they are safe and work well.

You can learn more about each committee's role on the TGA website.

The webinar held on 1 May 2024 will be available soon on the TGA webinars page, where you can listen to current committee members share their experiences and answer audience questions.

If you're interested in applying, you can find more information on the Department of Health and Aged Care jobs page.

The deadline for applications is Sunday, 26 May 2024.

If you have any questions, you can email [email protected].

Items of Interest

In a health care system where every dollar counts, low value care has been an ongoing issue of concern. Costly procedures with relatively low success rates have been in the news through the recent Four Corners investigation into spinal surgery with widespread additional media coverage.

Join this event for a focused discussion to explore the challenges of Low Value Care, its impact on the health care system, and to reflect on pathways forward.

Speakers:

• Facilitator – Dr Nick Coatsworth (Australian Patients Association)
• Special guest – Professor Ian Harris AM (academic orthopaedic surgeon)
• Special guest – Kylie Woolcock (Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association)

The discussion will be followed by Q&A.

When: 11am – 12:15pm, Thursday 16 May
Where: Online via Microsoft Teams
More information and registration: Low Value Care: Challenges and ways forward

Have you tried to access mental health supports or services in the ACT in the past two years? Do you have lived experience of mental illness? Then this survey is for you!

The ACT Mental Health Consumer Network aims to improve mental health services in the ACT using the lived experience of people with mental illness. Every two years they ask consumers to complete a survey, so they can understand the issues that consumers face. This year’s survey has a focus on the barriers to accessing ACT mental health services and where in the mental health system consumers are encountering them.

Complete the survey online to receive a $20 Woolworths or Coles gift card. Survey closes 5pm, this Sunday 12 May.

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

© 2024 Health Care Consumers' Association Inc, All rights reserved. Edited by Kate Gorman.

Our mailing address is:
100 Maitland St, Hackett ACT 2602
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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