The newsletter of the Health Care Consumers’ Association Inc.
Volume 11 / Issue 13 / 22 May 2025

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On Wednesday July 17 2024 HCCA held an election forum. It was an opportunity for Labour (ACT Labour), Canberra Liberals and ACT Greens health spokespersons to share their commitments to health care in the ACT.

We were joined by Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA (Labour ACT Labor), Leanne Castley MLA (Canberra Liberals) and Emma Davidson MLA (ACT Greens).

Below: Minister Davidson, Ms. Castley MLA and Minister Stephen Smith at the HCCA Election Forum.

Each speaker had 10 minutes to explain their priorities and commitments for health care as well as answering questions from the audience. HCCA members, staff and representatives from community organisations who participate in our Chronic Conditions Network attended.  

HCCA shared our priority statement for the ACT election. This statement shaped many of the questions asked.  

Members and staff asked candidates questions about: (Need to fix the spacing of the dot points)

• Supporting consumers to travel interstate for care
• Multicultural health  
• Preventative health  
• Integrating public and private systems  
• ‘Streaming’ older people in Emergency Department to improve
• their experience of care and outcomes
• Non-clinical facilities for the new Northside hospital  

After questions we shared a great afternoon tea from Woden Community Services’ new social enterprise catering. The team are finalising a summary of the discussion, and this will be shared in the next newsletter.

Darlene Cox
Executive Director

In this Issue

• Upcoming HCCA Events
• Infrastructure Update
• Policy and Research Update
• Health Literacy Update
• Items of Interest

Upcoming HCCA Events

Thursday 8 August, 10:30am – 12pm
Venue (Online via Zoom)

Who would speak for you if you could not make your own health care choices? Find out how to appoint a decision maker and share your wishes with an Advance Care Plan.

Infrastructure Update

The new Critical Services Building, Building 5 at Canberra Hospital is opening soon, with clinical services ‘going live’ in August. The services that will be moving into the new building are:

• Emergency Department
• Intensive Care Unit
• Operating theatres and day of surgery admission
• Inpatient cardiology services and cardiac catheter labs
• Some medical and surgical inpatient units
• Medical imaging
• Sterilising Services Unit
• Helideck

Emergency Department

The Emergency Department (ED) will move to Building 5. After opening the entrance will be on the south side of Hospital Road at street level. An exciting change in the ED is the separate children’s emergency area. It is designed to meet children's needs. It will have a triage and waiting area, a sensory room and outdoor spaces.

Intensive Care Unit

The new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) will be located on level 5. Some new features of the new ICU include:

• Larger bed spaces, most with floor to ceiling windows and lots of natural light
• 2 outdoor terraces with eight sheltered medical bays that can support patients.
• 4 bedspaces that can be used for paediatric patients.
• Visitor and family lounges to be used as breakout spaces for consumers. The visitor lounge also provides access to an outdoor visitor courtyard.

Family Respite Lounge

This Lounge will be on level 4. It can be accessed by family, carers of patients who are unwell or injured. Lounge visitors can talk with social workers and Aboriginal Liaison Officers in a quiet environment. The space also has a kitchenette, lockers, a shower and toilet facilities.

Perioperative Services

Perioperative services are where patients get care before, during, and after surgery.

There are 22 new operating theatres on level 3. These have the newest medical technology. There will be:

• A bigger recovery area.
• A new Day Surgery Unit for admissions and post operative care.
• A dedicated Post Surgery Pick Up lounge.

The building will also increase the number of Cardiac Catheter Labs at Canberra Hospital.

Inpatient Wards

Inpatient wards are hospital areas where patients are admitted to stay overnight and get continuous medical care and monitoring.

Inpatient wards will be on levels 6 and 7. There will be 5 inpatient wards providing both surgical and medical inpatient beds. The wards will include:

• Acute Cardiac Care Unit
• Acute Medical Unit
• Emergency General Surgery and Trauma,
• Neurosurgery and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery
• Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery.

There will be more information in August when the service moves will take place. Visit the Canberra Health Services website to keep up to date.

— Darcy
(Infrastructure Project Officer)

Policy and Research Update

The HCCA BPSD Project seeks to understand how people living with dementia, their families and carers access health care when living in a residential aged care facility (RACF).

HCCA would like to hear from:

• people aged 60 years and above or 50 years and above for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples who:
• Identify as having a diagnosis of dementia and have experienced BPSD;

AND 

• Are living in a RACF in the ACT;

AND

• Have presented to the Emergency Department or been hospitalised in the last two years;

OR

• Family or informal carers of eligible residents.

Confidential conversations will be conducted by HCCA staff.

If you or someone you know might be eligible to participate please contact Jessica Lamb at [email protected] or phone (02) 6230 7800.

The Project’s findings will be used to develop and improve access to health services to better meet the needs of people living with dementia, their families and carers. 

The HCCA BPSD Project is approved by the ACT Health Human Ethics Research Committee (approval number 2024.ETH.00080) and funded through the ACT Health Directorate.

HCCA has prepared our response to the ACT Budget 2024-25. we set out our priorities and analyse how the Budget has responded to these. Our response to the ACT Budget is on our website.

The 2024-25 ACT Budget was released on Tuesday 25 June 2024 by Andrew Barr MLA, Chief Minister and Treasurer of the ACT.

Overall, the ACT Government has delivered a budget that seeks to meet increasing demand for many health and hospital services through continuing and new commitments to infrastructure and service development. It includes measures relevant to many of HCCA’s current priorities including funding for improvements to:

• access to outpatients’ services
• support for consumers from multicultural communities' care of older people, and
• digital health.

The Budget offers us a valuable opportunity to understand the achievements (or failures) of current measures addressing these key areas. There are some specific services where we continue to not meet targets or fall below community need and expectations in the ACT.

The Budget papers can be found here: Home – Budget 2024-25 (act.gov.au). Details for the Health Directorate and Canberra Health Service are contained in Budget Statements C.

HCCA provided a submission to Government on our priorities for investment in the 2024-25 Budget. You can read our full submission on our website. In our response we set out our priorities and provide analysis of how the Budget has responded to these. 

Darlene spoke to the Select Committee on Estimates 2024-2025 on 22 July 2024 about our response to the ACT Budget. The Committee was interested in our comments about mental health, climate change and health and palliative care. I appeared with Asthma Australia and Nutrition ACT.  You can watch the session on the Legislative Assembly website (from 11:27:19am).

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) tests the quality and performance of therapeutic goods. This testing is done under the Therapeutics Goods Act (1989) and the Therapeutic Goods Regulations Act (1990) (“the Regulations”).

Part 5 of the Regulations sets out procedures for examination, testing and analysis of therapeutic goods. TGA has conducted a review (“the Review”) of the suitability of Part 5. The Review examined Part 5 in terms of whether it:

• is fit for purpose;
• accounts for the latest innovations;
• is efficient to comply with and administer;
• is effective; and
• is fair, transparent and resilient.

The Review concluded that Part 5 does not currently meet the criteria above.

The TGA is seeking input on proposals to better align Part 5 with the criteria above.

You can provide input on the proposals through completing the online survey by Thursday 8 August 2024.

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

Health Literacy Update

Easy Read translations of our Staying Safe in Hospital booklets are now available in print! They contain information on how to prepare for a hospital stay, how to stay safe in hospital and what to do when you are coming home. Contact the office to pick some up.

We have also just published Easy Read translations of our Take Action! Guide to Health Complaints and Feedback in the ACT for download on our website.

The resources use simple language, clear formatting and images to make it easier for people with intellectual disability, cognitive impairment or limited English to understand.

— the Health Literacy team
(C and Ivapene)

Items of Interest

The 2024 Allied Health Excellence Awards nominations process is open! Nominations will be accepted from Monday 1 July to 5pm Friday 9 August 2024.

Awards are open to eligible allied health professionals and assistants. They can be employed in the public, private, and/or not-for-profit sector. This year there is a new Consumer Recognition category. All information, including nomination forms, is available at the ACT Allied Health Excellence Awards webpage. Any questions? Please contact the Office of the Chief Allied Health Officer [email protected]

Avian Influenza has been found in poultry in the ACT. If you own chickens, ducks or other birds and live in an area with the post code 2614, 2615, 2617 or 2618, you need to report your birds to help control the spread of this disease. Read this factsheet for more information including symptoms and where to report signs of disease.

**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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