After more than six months working with HCCA’s Health
Infrastructure Program team, conducting information sessions and engaging with
the community, I recently had a chance to take a step back and reflect on some
of the learnings that have been generated through this process.
One of the key concerns of many community groups that we’ve
spoken to has been communication. Most people have never
even heard of the Health Infrastructure Program, much less know what the
Program involves, and what kind of improvements, changes and restructuring that
they will experience as part of it. By
delivering information sessions, we are slowly helping to inform the ACT
community, but this kind of approach needs to be supported by a range of other
communication techniques.
When compared to other health services the ACT Health Directorate is lagging behind in terms of
communicating with Canberra’s citizens. The Health
Directorate’s website is out of date with some sections of the site still
boasting about the display of sketch plans…in 2011! And the website still refers to “Your health – our priority”, a slogan that is no longer in use. As it is, the Health Directorate website is
not an effective tool for informing the public about this massive program of
public works, and often a fundamental restructuring of how care is delivered. We are very keen to work with the Directorate to improve the level of information to the Canberra community.
There are lots of excellent examples of effective websites that the Health Directorate could emulate. The Box Hill Hospital, the Fiona Stanley
Hospital and the
Royal North Shore Hospital websites all contain a variety of media about their (re)developments
and health initiatives.
Kerry Snell and I attended a Health Facilities Design and
Development conference earlier this year and saw an interesting presentation
about the New Bendigo Hospital. For this project, the website is the main
communication tool and offers members of the public project outlines, Models of
Care and sketch plans. This website
receives 4200 hits per week. However,
there is a recognition that electronic communication alone is not enough, and
accordingly four information sessions are held each year, with attendance
figures ranging from 40-200 people.
Communication isn’t just about the big picture stuff,
either. During redevelopment,
restructure and relocation, it is so important to have effective communication
and appropriate signage to facilitate consumer and staff movement around
facilities. At the Canberra Hospital,
there is a great deal of development currently being undertaken. However, services are still going on, so
interim measures are taken. Issues occur
when people attempting to access these facilities are unfamiliar with new
arrangements, or when signage is poor. A
key example of this is the Adult Mental Health Unit – despite the unit having
been open for over a year, there are still signs which point to its former
location. We've also heard reports from women accessing the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children that the entrance is difficult to locate. The signage inside the Centenary Hospital is also inadequate - on a recent visit to the facility, I noticed at least 6 women walking around looking confused. Luckily, there happened to be helpful staff members around who offered directions.
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| A sign pointing to the old mental health facility at the Canberra Hospital. |
It’s time for the ACT Health Directorate to put a strong,
flexible and effective communication strategy in place so that the Canberra
community can be adequately informed about the program of works for which their
tax dollars are paying. Having such a
strategy will also enable better access to services for consumers, who will be
informed when parking or location arrangements change. It will also reduce opportunities for
distress when interim arrangements are employed – an informed consumer is
(generally) a more understanding consumer.
Communication is key – capisce?
Heather McGowan
Health Infrastructure Program
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