24 July 2017 — Submission

Submission to the Review of Pharmacy of Remuneration and Regulation - Interim Report

Consumers Health Forum

The Interim Report correctly identifies the challenges of the current approach and makes a strong case for the need to change. This is not to say that the current system fails consumers or that it is a system in disarray, Indeed we know from the many surveys done by the Pharmacy Guild and others including our own 2015 survey, people value community pharmacy and see it as a vital element of our national health infrastructure. Consumers also have a high regard for pharmacists.

Overall CHF believes most of the options in the Interim Report, if put into place, would lead to a more consumer centred community pharmacy sector that is sustainable in the long run. If most of the options were implemented the community pharmacy sector would be better placed to deal with population shifts, ever increasing rates of technological change and workforce changes in pharmacy as well as the changing health system landscape with its greater emphasis on collaboration and integrated care. It would also help clarify and more centrally position pharmacy’s place as an integral part of the primary health team. We have identified a couple of areas where we think the report could have said more, particularly in the use of technology and addressing after hours services.

In this submission we have concentrated on those areas where we know consumers have concerns and those which we think are critical to move to a modern health system. We do not address all the options in detail in the body of the submission but Appendix 1 shows our positions on all of the options with some comments.

13 July 2017 — Presentations and Speeches

Webinar - Private Health Insurance and Pharmacy Remuneration & Regulation

Consumers Health Forum

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/wNeKJjIsvI0. This webinar covered current government policy and potential reforms in these two vital areas of the health system, and CHF's position in response.

15 June 2017 — Submission

Submission to Senate Inquiry into the Number of Women in Australia who have had Transvaginal Mesh Implants and Related Matters

Consumers Health Forum

It is becoming increasingly clear that there has been a major failure of the health system with regard to the use of transvaginal mesh to treat women. Many women have been left with permanent injuries and disabilities as a result of this device being implanted. 

We welcome this Senate Inquiry as a very public means of shining a light on what has happened, looking at ways women who have been injured can be assisted and putting in place changes to the processes to ensure similar events can be avoided. Consumers have the right to be able to feel confident that the medical devices that are implanted in their bodies are safe and effective and will improve the quality of their life. In the case of transvaginal mesh this has clearly not been the case for all women.  

It is of concern that we do not know how many women are impacted by this as we don’t know how many women had the mesh implanted and how many have had adverse effects but have not reported them.  The Health Issues Centre(HIC) in Victoria along with the other State and Territory Health Care Consumers organisations (HCOs) have collected stories and HIC ran an anonymous survey to try to get a better understanding  of the magnitude in terms of numbers affected and in terms of the injuries, disabilities and negative impact on women’s lives.  The response to this was quite overwhelming and HIC documents this in its submission to the Inquiry as do the State and Territory health care consumers organisations (HCOs) in theirs.

 It is worth making the point that this informal collection of data would not have been necessary if the processes of adverse reporting were improved and if the use of registries for implantable devices were more widely used . This is one of the key recommendations from the HCOs submission that we endorse.

CHF is indebted to them for undertaking this work and sharing it with us to assist with our submission.

1 June 2017 — Report

CHF Report Card: 2017

Consumers Health Forum

2016-17 has been a very exciting time for CHF. Read through our report card to find out more about our activities this year.

1 June 2017 — Report

Review of the Consumer Representative Program, Executive Summary and Recommendations

Consumers Health Forum

The Consumer Representative Program of the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF) has been in place for many years. It has been the subject of several internal and external reviews and more recently, the Program has been reoriented to be more strategic and focused. At the same time, there has been significant reform in the health system which has implications for the role and voice of consumers. The emergence of consumer-centred care, place-based health and improved technology or ehealth services creates a new role for consumers as partners in health care planning, delivery and evaluation. Therefore, it is timely for CHF, the peak health consumer body in Australia, to review its Consumer Representative Program in the light of this emerging and changing health system and role of consumers and make decisions about the role and function of this Program going forward.

18 May 2017 — Submission

Submission to ACSQHC on Resources to Support the National Safety and Quality in Health Service Standards (2nd ed)

Consumers Health Forum

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.
 

11 May 2017 — Presentations and Speeches

CHF's analysis of the Federal Budget 2017

Consumers Health Forum

Budget 2017 is one of restoration rather than reform, however overall we view the 2017 Budget as good news for the Australian health system.

29 April 2017 — Presentations and Speeches

Patient centred health care homes – realising the value

Consumers Health Forum, presented by Leanne Wells

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.

20 April 2017 — Health Voices

Health Voices, Issue 20, April 2017

Consumers Health Forum

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.

30 March 2017 — Submission

Submission to ACCC Report to the Senate on Private Health Insurance

Consumers Health Forum

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.

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