The newsletter of the Health Care Consumers’ Association Inc.
Volume 11 / Issue 14 / 13 May 2025

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We are pleased to support the campaign of the community sector ACTforCommunity. Community organisations like ours support and empower individuals and families. We face challenges due to limited funding and resources. This campaign calls on all parties and candidates in the upcoming ACT election and beyond to commit to providing necessary funding for essential services and safe facilities.

How You Can Help:

Spread the Word: Share campaign materials on social media. Find them at Resources – ACT for Community.

Email Your Candidate: Send a prepared message or write your own at Take Action – ACT for Community. Every signature counts.

Update Your Email Signature: Use the email signature block image at Resources – ACT for Community to show your support.

Together, we can secure the resources needed to continue our vital work. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Image: Charlotte (HCCA), Elisabeth (ATODA) and Jess (CARERS ACT) at the CCN July 2024

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

The new Critical Services Building (Building 5) is planned to open on Saturday August 17, 2024.

Services Moving to Building 5

• Emergency Department
• Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
• Operating theatres and day surgery admission
• Inpatient cardiology services and cardiac labs
• Medical and surgical inpatient units
• Medical imaging
• Helipad

Timeline of Events

• Main Reception and the Sterilizing Services Unit have already moved
• Elective surgical and Cardiac Cath Lab procedures will start from August 13, 2024
• Moving Equipment will happen from August 9 - 23 (over 3000 items need to be moved)
• Full clinical services are planned to start on August 17, 2024

Key Events planned for August 17

• New Emergency Department opens at 7:30 AM (the current one closes at the same time)
• ICU and inpatient units move one by one from 7:30 AM
• Perioperative services and Cardiac Cath Labs start at 7:30 AM
• Medical imaging and helipad services start at 7:30 AM
• Elective procedures begin on August 19

Support During the Move

• Canberra Health Services will provide public information, extra staff, and volunteers to assist patients and community members
• Any patients in the old Emergency Department at 7.30am on August 17 will continue to be treated there. Then they will either be discharged, or admitted to the hospital
• Around 160 patients will be moved to the new building from existing areas of the hospital throughout the day
• Patients in the hospital who need to move will be told everything they need to know by their care team (timing of their move and how they will be transferred).

For more information visit the Building 5 webpage.

— Darcy
(Infrastructure Project Officer)

Policy and Research Update

Although Shivana, our Research Officer, is in France enjoying the Olympics as we write, it is full steam ahead on our research into the healthcare experiences of people with dementia. You can read about the work, and whether you might be eligible to participate, below.

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

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 family or informal carers of:

• 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.

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.

The Canberra Health Services (CHS) Division of Mental Health, Justice Health, and Alcohol & Drug Services (MHJHADS) has recently undertaken a review of their procedures including:

Care of Persons subject to a Conditional Release Order Procedure

Care of Persons Subject to a Psychiatric Treatment Order with or without a Restriction Order Procedure

Care of a Person Subject to a Forensic Mental Health Order Procedure

If you are interested in providing feedback on any of these updated procedures, please contact Jessica Lamb at [email protected] or phone (02) 6230 7800. Consultation closes 5 September 2024.

Clear and reliable health information about eczema for consumers and carers is being produced through our Using Medicines for Better Health Project (the project). A key issue for consumers and carers managing eczema is inconsistent advice. This leads to confusion about the right way to treat eczema. Resources for consumers from the project now include:

Eczema Online Toolkit,

Eczema Care Plan,

Fact sheet on Topical Steroids for Eczema Flare Control, and

Fact sheet on Caring for your baby or small child with Eczema.

These resources (plus others we are working on) will help improve understanding about eczema and how to treat it. It will also help improve communication between consumers and health professionals about eczema treatment.

Health Literacy Update

We have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for our online Advance Care Planning session on Dying to Know Day and have sold out! We are contacting community organisations, including Arthritis ACT, to hold further events. You can learn more about Advance Care Planning in the ACT on our website or by downloading our newly updated factsheet.

We also now have printed copies of our Easy Read guides to health care complaints available from the office. Get in touch if you would like some for yourself or a community group.

— the Health Literacy team
(C and Ivapene)

We liked this blog post from the good folks at We ❤ Health Literacy that talks about how health services can make decision aids that help people process the emotions and thoughts that come with making big health decisions.

You can find links to decision aids on the Canberra Health Literacy Hub to help with your next big health decision. If you’ve found one you like – reach out to [email protected] so we can share it around.

This Thursday, 8 August, is Dying to Know Day! Every year, this is an opportunity to think about what you might want for end-of-life care and when you die. Dying to Know Day has a bunch of resources, including a checklist to help you think about what you need to do and who you need to talk to. This year, they’ve even made a ‘chatterbox’ you can make to help prompt discussions with your friends and family.

Chronic Conditions Network Update

We had an excellent in-person Chronic Conditions Network meeting on the 31^st July at the Dickson Common Ground meeting space. We were lucky to have Bradley Foxlewin, the Director of Lived Experience from ACT Health Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing join us for a Q&A session on Peer Support programs.

Network members including Diabetes Australia, ATODA, Hepatitis ACT, Carers ACT, CHS Community Care team and Haemochromatosis Australia were able to delve deeper into how to set up and support good peer programs for people with physical health conditions to benefit from the lived experience of others. We also had some visitors from Open Arms (Department of Veterans Affairs) and Community Services orgs to give us broader examples of peer support.

Bradley Foxlewin from ACT Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing with Kirsty and Alex from Open Arms and Michelle HCCA.

— 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!  Closing date: Wednesday, 28 August 2024

The ANU School of Medicine and Psychology is looking for a consumer representative to join their Medical Program Advisory Board. The role of the board is to provide a community and health consumer perspective to the activities of the ANU medical program, including education, research, and service.

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

Items of Interest

Nominations for the 2024 Allied Health Excellence Awards are open now and close on Friday 9^th August.

In preparation for the Australian Public Health Conference, PHAA is opening nominations for their national awards. These awards close 5pm, 19 August 2024. 

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has made a helpful guide called 'Partnering with Consumers: a guide for consumers.

To help everyone understand and use this guide, they’ve also made four case studies and an education package. The case studies match what's in the Guide and show how strong partnerships have formed in different care settings and services. They also share learnings for the future.

The educational package comes with a Facilitator Guide and a presentation. Both are meant to be used by consumers and delivered with health service staff. The sessions introduce the Guide, explain how to use it, and encourage discussion about how to work together to strengthen partnerships across all levels of the health service.

Find the new case studies and educational package at safetyandquality.gov.au/pwc-guide

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and National Boards release a quarterly newsletter to keep consumers informed about their work in supporting safe and professional health practitioners across Australia.

In this Winter 2024 edition, you will find a snapshot of useful information, key pieces of work, and ways you and your communities can connect with the National

Registration and Accreditation Scheme for health practitioners.

Read the National Scheme Community Newsletter here

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and National Boards release a quarterly newsletter to keep consumers informed about their work in supporting safe and professional health practitioners across Australia.

In this Winter 2024 edition, you will find a snapshot of useful information, key pieces of work, and ways you and your communities can connect with the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for health practitioners.

**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 Darlene Cox.

Our phone number is:
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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