CHF is pleased to provide the following comments on the four initial resources released by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) to support the National Safety and Quality in Health Service Standards (second edition). We have focused on whether the resources give sufficient and appropriate guidance, in an easy to understand way, to ensure a consistently high level of achievement against the Partnering with Consumers Standard in particular. However, given the nature of our comments, nearly all of them would apply to the respective resource overall, not just the chapter concerning the Partnering with Consumers Standard.
Submission to ACSQHC on Resources to Support the National Safety and Quality in Health Service Standards (2nd ed)
CHF's analysis of the Federal Budget 2017
Budget 2017 is one of restoration rather than reform, however overall we view the 2017 Budget as good news for the Australian health system.
Patient centred health care homes – realising the value
This presentation was delivered to the SE NSW Patient Centred Medical Home Symposium to give attendees insight into the overall structure of the proposed Health Care Homes model in Australia, and highlight where consumers fit.
Health Voices, Issue 20, April 2017
Many consumers are struggling to afford health insurance while confusion and uncertainty about its value to Australia continue to grow. This raises the question: Is health insurance worth it?
Read the latest issue here.
Submission to ACCC Report to the Senate on Private Health Insurance
CHF has consistently called for improved information provision to consumers as way of ensuring they understand their private health insurance policies and can make informed decisions. We regard the ACCC’s continued interest in this issue and the fact that the last two reports have been focused on information provision as critically important, and welcome the opportunity to contribute to the latest ACCC report to the Senate on Private Health Insurance.
Presentation to the Inaugural Symposium of the NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability
As a foundation partner and system lead investigator for the NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability, CEO Leanne Wells presented at the inaugural symposium. Involving consumers in research has a number of important issues to consider.
Submission to Senate Inquiry into Therapeutic Goods Amendment (2016 Measures No. 1) Bill 2016
We welcome this legislation coming forward as we believe many of the reforms covered by the review are overdue. This Bill set the groundwork for us to modernise the way we regulate medicines and medical devices and ensure that consumers can have the confidence to use them.
Whilst we do provide some comments on the key issues covered in the legislation we think it is important that they are looked at as a package. In particular we draw the Committee’s attention to the reforms to strengthen post-marketing activity which were a key theme in our Submission to the initial review. The move to improve adverse event reporting and have more post market monitoring and surveillance is critical to ensuring the integrity of the system. The reforms to this component of the regulators work cannot be overemphasised from a consumer confidence perspective and without this many of the other proposed reforms would not be acceptable.
Policy Webinar #2 - Current Areas of Australian Health Reform
Slides from our second Policy Webinar for 2017. This webinar was presented with Frank Quinlan from Mental Health Australia and Alexis Mohay from the National Rural Health Alliance. The full webinar can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/T5DO5ufXPhA
Policy Webinar #1 - Overview of the Australian Health System
Slides from a one hour webinar that gave a system level overview of the Australian health system. The webinar can be watched in full here: https://youtu.be/T5DO5ufXPhA
Consumers Shaping Health, vol 11, issue 1, February 2017
Welcome back to another year. Already much has been happening, with much more on the agenda for the year.
We have a new Health Minister in Greg Hunt. In a welcome move, he reached out to CHF very early in his tenure to touch base. We discussed CHF’s ideas for a better health system in detail. This week CHF Chair, Tony Lawson and I had a lengthy face-to-face meeting with Minister Hunt about his vision for a national health plan and preventative health. We advocated that these undertakings need to be informed by consumer and community aspirations and expectations of our health system. The Minister agreed to work with us on a Consumer Roundtable to provide the opportunity to bring together key consumer groups and advocates to ensure that the national health plan is shaped from a consumer and community perspective.
Our priorities for 2017 focus on the “5 P’s”; Primary Health Care, Private Health Insurance, Pharmacy, Prevention, and Patient Safety and Participation. Our Submission to the Federal Treasurer for Federal Budget 2017-18, ‘Consumer Focussed Commitments’, goes into what we want to see in these priority areas in more detail. Our core request beyond adequate financial resourcing for the health system is for COAG to develop a true forward looking strategy that builds a national vision for our health system.
Our first major campaign for the year has launched, asking consumers to check and make sure their private health insurance is in fact, ‘Healthy Cover’. The response so far has been heartening, with coverage in the Guardian and a decent number of responses to the survey. We ask that those who choose to hold private health insurance take the time to go through the checklist and survey. A very big thank you to everyone who has already helped spread the word about Healthy Cover. The more voices we can gather, the better we can make our combined voice heard.
I’d like to close on a sad note. Sally Crossing was an incredible woman and absolutely pivotal in the growth of health consumers in Australia. Her grace, courage and empathy touched thousands, and her legacy will continue to touch many more. Read our commemorative statement about Sally here.
Leanne Wells
Chief Executive Officer
Consumers Health Forum