By Clare Mullen, Executive Director
One of the first tasks I was given by our Management Committee when I took on the role of Executive Director just over 12 months ago was to refresh HCC’s strategy. I was also keen to learn from HCC’s proud history as an independent voice for the community since we were established in 1994 as we prepared to mark our anniversary in April 2024.
It was great that these two tasks aligned as I was able to be thinking about our future, while learning about our achievements in the past. We met with and gathered feedback from members, consumer leaders and representatives, health leaders and decision makers across WA health services, fellow advocacy organisations and HCC’s founders and elders.
Some things we heard and learned:
- Health Consumers’ Council “emerged” from within the WA Department of Health and an earlier iteration – the Health Consumer Network – was chaired by Janet Holmes A Court. Consumer leaders and forward thinking public servants at the time recognised the need for the consumer voice to be independent of government and the public service – and so Health Consumers’ Council was born as an independent not-for-profit organisation
- Many of the ideas that the team and I kick around today have already been tested in the past
- WA is a leader both nationally and internationally by having the state peak health consumer body provide individual advocacy service that is free at the point of delivery for the WA community – something that’s not available in any other state or territory and…
- …there’s much more need for this service that is currently available
- HCC has a solid reputation with health leaders and decision makers and…
- …many of our members and people in the health consumer community would like to see us have a more visible presence in the community and be careful to guard our independence
- There is a pressing need to continue growing the number, capacity and connectedness of WA consumers who are confident, capable and willing to fulfil a range of consumer representative and advocacy roles at a time of significant reforms in health and social care and…
- …we need to go beyond being a critical friend to being catalysts for change
As we were immersed in all this history and feedback, a couple of us had the opportunity to participate in training for advocates, campaigners, activists and changemakers run by Australian Progress. That too was great timing as we’ve been able to apply some of the ideas and tools we’ve learned as we think about what next.
Health rights are met | People power is rallied | Consumers drive positive change | HCC finances are sustainable | HCC is strong and agile
These are the outcomes we’ll be working towards over the coming months and years. They blend our enduring priorities with an invitation to our members, the health consumer network and people in the community because we are stronger together.
We’ll be sharing our refreshed strategic plan at a briefing and get together for members, health consumers and stakeholders on Wed 26 July at 4pm – 6.30pm.
Read about our new strategy here https://www.hconc.org.au/about-us/strategic-direction/