CHF was obliged to postpone our Shifting Gears Australasian summit to March 18-19 next year --- and transform it to a virtual event --- because of COVID. Yet the influence of COVID has made our conference theme of consumer leadership and experience and consumers as agents of change more timely and relevant. Rarely does a health crisis impact on an entire society in the way COVID has. It has made many more consumers take an active role in their own health care, like wearing masks and taking more hygiene measures. Governments have been urged to involve the community in decision-making more, the medical science community has recognised the importance of communicating to consumers on risks and therapies. All of these developments have given our four key conference streams extra resonance and relevance. Stream topics are: Consumers and Research, Consumer-based Health Care, Leadership and Enablement. These focus on important policy initiatives that CHF plays an important role in advancing: primary health care reform and redevelopment of Australia’s preventive health programs. The virtual platform of the conference necessitated by COVID has also widened our range of speakers and participants and magnified our potential audience. We have been fortunate to draw leading exponents of consumer-centred care and leadership from around the world. These include primary health co-design innovator Dr Lynne Maher from NZ, Canadian patient partnering leader Vincent Dumez and Associate Professor Kate Mulligan, a social prescribing innovator from Canada. From England we have invited Mark Doughty to speak on health leadership development from the leading health think tank, the King’s Fund. We will have a strong field of health thinkers and consumers from Australia and NZ including experts talking about citizen science and its benefits. Giving the conference additional depth will be a session sponsored by and involving the NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability. And CSIRO are sponsoring our feature “Big Idea” event, chaired by the ABC’s Ellen Fanning and involving selected consumer video producers. The Australian Health Research Alliance and the Australian Clinical Trials will also be contributing at the conference. A fitting prelude to the conference comes later this month with the launch of the Consumer Commission report which provides a broad and deep menu for action based on lessons from the COVID experience. The launch on November 23 will the highlight of at our members’ forum. The value of community was championed by ACOSS and AFAO this week. They called for the COVID Commission to include at least two commissioners to represent people experiencing poverty and disadvantage. Nothing about us without us. |
