HCCA’s
Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 25 September at 3:00pm in the
Griffith Community Hall. It was a magnificent event with a very strong turnout
and I would like to thank to all attendees for their time and participation.
We are very
pleased to introduce our new Executive Committee as elected at our AGM.
Our Executive Committee members are as
follows:
- Dr Sue
Andrews – President
- Dr Michelle
Banfield - Vice-President
- Hugh Crawford
– Treasurer
- Bill Heins -
Member (for two year term)
- Fran Parker -
Member (for two year term)
- John Didlick
-Member (for two year term)
- Marcus Bogie
- Member (for two year term)
- Adele Stevens
- Member (for one year term)
- Bev McConnell
- Member (for one year term)
HCCA would
like to thank the outgoing Executive Committee members David Lovegrove for his
support for HCCA over many years and contribution to the governance of this
organisation.
The AGM was
followed by a panel discussion on the politics of health and the role of
consumer organisations in ensuring that our health system meets the needs of
the community. We were very pleased to hear from two HCCA members, Fiona Tito
Wheatland, Russell McGowan and also Adam Stankevicius, the Chief Executive
Officer of the Consumers Health Forum.
Fiona Tito
Wheatland kicked off the panel discussion looking at how consumers and people
alike have differing power and knowledge. Fiona noted that everyone has their
own feelings regarding health and health services. An example of this was
Fiona’s mother, she did not want to make a fuss so Fiona waited until her
mother passed away to make complaints surrounding her health services. It can
sometimes be more complicated if you are advocating for someone else, rather
than yourself.
Consumers
need to be at the core of the health service, but it is always around the needs
of the provider. An example Fiona gave was the processes in which nurse
administer morphine. Rather than administering morphine when it was best for
the patient, nurse were more focused on when it was the best and easies time
for them.
They were
taking blood test every morning because that’s what they do. The efficient
running of their word is more important. This shows how political the health
service is. There are some serious issues with aged care.
Fiona stated
that doctors and nurses need to response to consumer’s feelings. It is quite
difficult to change the way doctors and nurses deal with patients as they are
trained in the structure of an apprenticeship, this means the same issues are
only passed onto each generation of doctors and nurse, such as keeping a
distance. Change will be hard as doctors and nurses will have to give up power
and move to a new model.
Fiona
finished with saying that patient centred care is still not the main model
supported within health services. There is still a lot of work to be done and a
need for more consumer input.
Russell
McGowan followed Fiona, Russell’s presentation to members was looking at the
aspect of ensuring our health system meets community needs. Russell started off
with the question “Are we patients or are we consumers?” The answer was we are
who we say we are, sometimes we identify our self’s as consumers and sometimes
as patients. Consumers are people, we bring that to the table. We are also
carers and citizens.
Consumers
come in all shapes and sizes, with mixed experiences of life. There are three
dimensions to consumers, these are:
- Active/passive
- Informed/uninformed
- Positive/negative
Consumers as
participants, Healthcare works best when consumers are active partners in
decision making. Consumers are more likely to adopt and maintain healthy
behaviours and follow care plans when they feel in control. This means better
clinical hand over, better clinical decisions when consulted, improved
medication management, minimised wastage, minimisation of duplicated tests and
learn from mistakes.
Consumer groups / organisations represent millions of
healthcare consumers,
when everyone works together its more power full. Consumer
groups / organisations cover such a broad spectrum, this includes population groups: older
people, women, culturally diverse and Illness and self-help groups which
includes diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular and prostate cancer.
Consumer groups deliver opportunities to build opportunities to work with
health care organisations. They also provide support and training to consumers
so they can participate in service planning, tap into
community views and
compile/research into consumer experiences and expectations. Russell
finished with the statement that we should see consumers as the solution. We
can make a difference, the glass is still only half full.
Adam
Stankevicius, the Chief Executive Officer of the Consumers Health Forum, was
the final speaker from the panel. Adam started by saying it’s a really
interesting time to be in health policy, it could be seen as a blessing or a
curse. The current political environment is not focused on health policy, where
two of the main political parties very light on health issues.
One of the
main issues today is that the things currently shaping health policies are not
brought up by the health minister, rather by other ministers. The current Government
feels there is no need for a therapeutic goods administration. The current
Australian government believes regulation can be through the American system.
However this is an issues, as removing red tape and deregulation can have
detrimental effects. The regulation should be provided through states and
territories, this is a clear sign that Australian is moving towards more of a
U.S health system. The importance of having Health Care Consumers’ and Consumers’
Health Forum is to ask and debate these ideas is such a vital part of shaping a
better health system for all.
Fiona Tito
Wheatland, Russell McGowan and Adam Stankevicius all gave fantastic talks,
providing everyone with a different perspectives at different levels of the
health system. We would like to thank all three panel member for giving up
their time and sharing their valuable views and experience of the health
system.
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