The power of modern drugs makes it more important than ever that consumers are supported to know and understand their impact. Think of the potency and benefits of opioids, antimicrobials and anti-psychotics, yet all too often they are also associated with harms that could have been avoided. It’s...

CEO Leanne Wells talks about the health Budget to ABC Radio News interviewer Glen Bartholomew. (Edited) Overall reaction “We are pretty happy. The budget has promised record spending in areas of greatest concern to health care consumers. Aged care and mental health are big winners. But it has only...

Jennifer Doggett in @CroakeyNews writes that the recent Shifting Gears Summit hosted by the Consumers Health Forum of Australia highlighted the changing role of consumers in health care, moving from a tokenistic “charity and volunteer” model to one of co-design and co-creation. The Trans-Tasman...

Health consumer organisations (HCOs) have a major and growing voice in health policy, including through submissions and discussions about government subsidy for new medicines. Health consumer organisations are funded in a variety of ways and many accept pharmaceutical industry funding. This...

CHF’s Consumer Commission report whose key recommendations included a focus on mental health, came out just days after the release of the Productivity Commission’s final report on mental health. The two reports produce broadly similar findings about the widespread dearth of services and pressing...

Leanne Wells, Mark Morgan and Leanne Beagley Social prescribing presents a step forward in healthcare. Far from being left behind by the dominating impact of COVID on health thinking, it appears that the pandemic is reinforcing the potential of social prescribing as a spur to improved health care,...