Category: Blog

CroakeyGO – Walking and talking for collaborative health content

Posted on December 3, 2019

Social journalism project Croakey is taking a unique approach to gathering consumer input on health with CroakeyGO. The project brings people together to walk and talk about health issues and to collaboratively produce social media and other editorial content.

In August, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) supported a mental health CroakeyGO, #NavigatingHealth, following the footsteps of a patient journey through the mental health system. Consumer feedback gathered during the partnership project will help guide mental health commissioning and inform the PHN’s Regional Plan for mental health.

The event involved about 100 people from diverse backgrounds. The group stopped at four different locations: a public hospital ED, an Aboriginal health service, a community health service, and a general practice. It looked at the issues faced by different parts of the mental health system and how a person’s care journey is impacted by where they first seek care.

There were speakers at each stop, but importantly all participants were given the opportunity to be interviewed about their own issues and concerns. This was supplemented by hundreds of people engaged with the event and conversations via social media.

“First and foremost, we wanted to listen to our community about what they think is needed in our mental health system,” Mary-Anne Toy, NWMPHN Director of Strategic Relations, said.

“What was working well, what was not working, and how we could make the system fairer and better. We wanted to get as many perspectives as possible. We also wanted to share our work and approaches and build new connections so that we can work together to create better care for our community.”

NWMPHN recognised that collaborating with CroakeyGO would have the potential to have greater impact, reach and engagement than previous meetings or consultations.

“It went even better than we hoped. We had twice as many people as we’d calculated would turn up in real life. And people loved participating, from our own staff to consumers, carers, service providers and academics. From people who knew us to people who didn’t really know what a Primary Health Network was but turned up because they cared about our mental health system,” Ms Toy said.

“What surprised us was how much our own staff loved the event.  It reminded everyone that we’re all in it together and how important it is to get out ‘on the ground’.

“Listening to people at the four partner stops talk about what they did was illuminating – even for those of us working in the field, there’s so much we don’t know about the system and hearing people’s stories is always powerful and humbling.”

Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS), St Vincents Hospital, Drummong Strett Services and Carlton Family Medical photographed at Fitzroy on Thursday,01 August 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Norm Oorloff/1826 )

 

This article was originally published in Health Matters 

Communication and kindness: Using my voice as a consumer and carer

Posted on November 21, 2019

By Deb Letica, consumer representative

Life is an interesting journey that unfolds before us, sometimes leading us to opportunities that we never considered.

I have mostly enjoyed a good quality of health so far. It was not until I had some health issues such as Graves’ Disease, over prescribed thyroid medication, emergency appendicitis and discovering my much-loved younger brother had a rare genetic neurogenetic disease called a leukodystrophy that I became passionate about health.

My lived experience motivated me to become involved in the health sector, starting out as a member of the Consumer Advisory Council at my local hospital.

I attended Health Consumers’ Council consumer training to understand how the health system works and why my voice as a consumer/carer was important. I learnt how to use my experience to have a strong voice for systemic improvement in the health system.

From those small beginnings I have grown in confidence and contribute in a systemic way at a state level with the Department of Health (DoH), South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS), and WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA), and on a national level in training health professionals.

I’ve learnt how the systems operate, the rigorous safety and quality standards, the NSQHC Standards, accreditation of our hospitals, and the importance of training our health professionals of the future. On a personal level I’ve learned how to better navigate the sector, how to advocate on my own behalf and on the behalf of people I care about.

Integrated care is important to me. I think that many vulnerable people fall through the gaps when they are the ones that can teach us so much more. Even when we are diagnosed with a chronic health issue trying to navigate the two systems when you’re not feeling too well can be overwhelming. In fact, it was a complete surprise to me to discover that integrated care wasn’t the norm!

Communication is one area that needs improving when it comes to consumer engagement. Consumers/carers just want CARE (Communicate, Access, Respect, Experience) for a good patient experience. The key to enabling this to happen is kindness. Kindness enables conversations to happen about things that matter to us, what’s important to us. Put us at the centre of the care team and please all communicate with each other!

Kindness doesn’t cost anything, but it can make a profound difference to others. It gives consumers and carers the confidence to ask questions, increase their understanding and health literacy, and it makes them partners in the planning of their care.

Kindness is life changing – it builds trust which then builds collaboration and partnerships. Kindness builds teams which then increases patient safety. It breaks down barriers and changes mindsets.

Kindness is the enabler for everything that matters to each of us.

I strongly encourage everyone to become involved in the health sector as a consumer/carer rep.  It’s important to give back to our community, to make the world a better place for us all.

Deb Letica is in a hopsital room, holding a file and speaking to another woman

Photo of Deb Letica by SMHS

*This article was originally published in Health Matters 

Breast Implants – national recall

Posted on September 27, 2019

CONSUMER ALERT – The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) continues to review and assess breast implants available in the Australian market. For more information and the latest updates, see the TGA’s online breast implant hub.

  • On 2 August 2019, the Allergan company voluntarily recalled their un-implanted Biocell macro-textured breast implants and tissue expanders due to a risk of breast implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a rare cancer of the immune system. Another company also cancelled their product (Emergo Airxpanders Aeroform tissue expanders)
  • On 26 September 2019, the TGA published its decision to recall and suspend a number of other breast implants and tissue expanders. The full list of recalled and suspended products can be found on the TGA’s Breast Implant Hub.

The TGA has developed a fact sheet for consumers regarding the Allergan recall. The TGA fact sheet states that:

If you have symptoms such as pain, swelling, a rash or a lump in your breast, armpit or elsewhere or you are not sure about changes in your breast, please discuss these with your general practitioner (GP), surgeon or other appropriate medical professional as soon as possible.

Patients can also call HealthDirect on 1800 022 222 for further information.

World Patient Safety Day

Posted on September 17, 2019

Today, 17th September, is World Patient Safety Day – a day where 194 countries come together to recognise patient safety as a global health priority.

The slogan for the day is “Speak up for patient safety”, to increase public awareness and engagement, enhance global understanding, and spur global solidarity and action.

So what can you do to speak up for patient safety?

If you are a patient or caregiver

  • Be actively involved in your own care
  • It is good to ask questions; safe health care starts with good communication
  • Be sure to provide accurate information about your health history

From our work with health consumers, and from the personal experience of some of our staff, being prepared to speak up when you know something is not right with your care is a critical element in patient safety – even in the face of health professionals not immediately agreeing with you.

It is only by advocating for yourself, learning as much as you can, and feeling OK about asking questions that you can get the best health care. There are resources available to help you speak up and become more active in the important decisions around your healthcare.

The Choosing Wisely “5 Questions to ask your doctor” is a great prompt for starting important conversations with your doctor about your care.

The Question Builder tool can help you prepare for appointments. By creating a list of questions that you can print or email to yourself, you can get more out of your time with your doctor and remember what you want to discuss.

If you are a public health advocate or from a patient organisation

  • Promote patients’ voices in their own safe care
  • Advocate for safety in health care as a requirement

We have compiled these Self Advocacy resources that you may wish to share to help others advocate for themselves.

If this is an area you’d like to get more involved in, take a look at our Consumer Representation training. Consumer Representatives play an integral role in the Australian health care system. They provide vital information and ideas from a service user’s perspective, to health services and government committees. We can help you use your experience as a patient or carer to create a better health system.

If you are a health worker or health care leader

  • Engage patients as partners in their care
  • Work together for patient safety
  • Ensure continuous professional development to improve your skills and knowledge in patient safety
  • Create an open and transparent safety culture in health care settings
  • Encourage blame-free reporting of and learning from errors

If you are a policy maker

  • Investing in patient safety results in financial savings
  • Invest in patient safety to save lives and build trust
  • Make patient safety a national health priority

If you are a researcher, student, academic, or professional institution

  • Generate evidence to improve patient safety, your research matters
  • Encourage research in patient safety
  • Incorporate patient safety in educational curricula and courses

If you are from a professional association, international organisation or foundation

  • Promote patient safety for achieving universal health coverage
  • Provide learning and development opportunities for patient safety

Improving engagement practices – people with disabilities share their feedback

Posted on September 12, 2019

People With disabilities WA (PWDWA), Health Consumers’ Council (HCC) and a working group of people with disabilities have recently been working on a partnership program together—Empowering Health Consumers’ with disabilities.  Sam and Pip from PWDWA and HCC identified the opportunity to improve the experience of people with disabilities in the health system.  With funding from an Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) grant, staff from PWDWA and HCC supported a group of people with disability to create and deliver information sessions to people with disabilities and staff.  The work we have done together has been a great learning experience on how we can better engage people with disabilities.  So others can learn from this project,  members of the working group shared their thoughts on how services could involve people with disabilities differently—here are some of their responses.

What would you like to see change to better involve people with disabilities in engagement activities?

“Let organisations know that there are lots of people with disabilities who are willing to share their lived experiences”

“Organisations would need to understand the life experience that a person with a disability brings to the group.”

“That people find out who they can turn to for expert advice about making activities and communications accessible”

“Education of the community that there are a lot of people with disabilities who would love to be involved. It should be mandatory that all boards or committee should have at least one member with a disability”

 

What are some of the barriers that might stop yourself and people with disabilities from participating in engagement activities? (e.g. working groups, community advisory groups)

“Physical access, not flexible whether you can use alternative method of participation e.g. Skype, interpreters, etc. Finishes too late at night (after 8 pm) Not near reliable public transport.”

“A lack of understanding of facilitators of what life experience and background a person with a disability has to offer”

“Most working groups or advisory committees usually meet during my work hours. I may not be paid for my time and service on those committees. I may not have the expertise to speak on behalf of people with diverse disability than my own. Cost of travel to and from the meetings maybe too high.  Pay for the time and services of the person with disability sitting on that committee just as all the other members of the committee are getting paid. Meet their travel cost. Make sure that the person has some experience in the area of your work group meeting purpose and or the advisory committee”

“Knowing about them in the first place – I think it’s important to ensure that people with diverse disabilities are considered as a “must include” group when engagement activities are being planned. Being able to physically participate – consideration should be given to how to make engagement activities accessible to all Not being given the opportunity.”

“Health – like if am sick or in hospital. I know some of my peers are house bound and they are happy to attend remotely but can’t always get there.”

 

Do you have any advice for organisations that would like to find people with disabilities for engagement activities?

“Broaden your perspective of disabilities to beyond what’s visible.  Acknowledge that people with disabilities can often work and recognise that while not everyone chooses to disclose. If you provide info in a non-threatening way you might find them in your workplaces and neighbourhood. Consult with GP’s, community groups, Facebook and places like the Arthritis Centre and other places who have newsletters. Schools, Youth Centres, Youth Disability Advocacy network and Youth advisory councils. LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram”.

“Approach disability advocacy and support agencies, disability service providers, peak bodies etc.”

 

Some additional lessons that the HCC team has learnt from this project include:

  • A major issue is ensuring information is accessible in the first place.
  • Video content should include captions: a great way to do this quickly and at a low-cost is to use YouTube’s auto-captioning and edit where necessary.
  • Provide plain-text versions of material: uploading a plain-text version—and ensuring the headings are accessible through navigation—is a quick task that can make our materials even more accessible.
  • Keep our written content simple: everybody has a different level of reading comprehension but using simple English as a standard is a great place to start if we want our material to be accessible.  To provide information accessible to many people with intellectual disabilities, Easy English versions should be available.  We have produced the written resources from this project in Easy English and are available at this link if you would like to learn more.
  • People with different disabilities – for example, physical, sensory and speech, intellectual, psychosocial – may have different needs in terms of what information and how it’s communicated. This may take time to plan and organise so that information is accessible to all at the same time.

Rebecca’s Story

Posted on August 21, 2019

By Rebecca

Throughout my twenties, I had heard story after story from some of my friends regarding the joys of growing older. Self-confidence. Self-assurance. Self-love. Caring less about the opinions of those who do not matter. Growing to appreciate those who do. I looked forward to entering my third decade.

Six weeks after my thirtieth birthday my world came crashing down.

Friday October 24, 2014 will be forever etched into my mind. It was a beautiful spring day. I happily woke up early with plans to go shopping with my best friend for her wedding dress. I did have an appointment scheduled with my GP later that day, but I decided I would cancel. I was convinced the MRI that I had two days before to investigate some odd seizure-like episodes would return with nothing out of the ordinary. I counted the minutes down until I could call to change my appointment.

However, the clinic receptionist called me before I could get to the phone. A courtesy call to ensure I was still coming in that afternoon, she said. As a former medical receptionist, I read between the lines. Something had been found.

I was diagnosed with a tennis ball sized Rosette Forming Glioneuroma of the Fourth Ventricle in the Cerebellum/Brain Stem area. The Radiologist who wrote the report had spoken to my doctor. An atypical appearing tumour – the like of which he had not seen before – had triggered his curiosity, leading to further investigation.

Understandably my neurosurgeon was frustrated that a Radiologist had taken the liberty to give his professional opinion without additional testing. Interestingly the biopsy taken during the resection confirmed the thoughts of the Radiologist.

Two weeks later I was admitted for a craniotomy that went for ten hours. The sheer size of the tumour, along with evidence of multiple bleeds within, had deemed surgery a priority. According to my parents I passed all tests with flying colours to the point my dad had
checked that the surgery had gone ahead.

Early the next morning, tragedy struck again. At six a.m I was rushed into emergency surgery as a result of a cardio-vascular accident (in simple terms, a stroke) in the same area. My family were alerted and asked to say their goodbyes. My life hung in the balance.

I was left completely paralysed, unable to speak, blind, and with vertigo so severe I could not move, look, or lay on the right for six months. My neurology team held little hope for my recovery. My parents were given information on having me admitted as a permanent
resident to a nursing home. On the delivery of the news that there were no expectations of recovery my mother dissolved into tears. My dad, a short placid man, yelled “YOU DON’T KNOW MY F***ING DAUGHTER” and stormed out of the meeting room taking my
inconsolable mum with him.

I spent approximately a month in ICU and was eventually moved to a Head Injury Rehabilitation Unit after my parents regularly refused to have me placed in a nursing home. Rehabilitation felt slow. Re-learning every single little thing again – from brushing my teeth to reading, to driving – was incredibly laborious.

Learning how to speak again was probably the most difficult. Not only did I have to learn to move my face and mouth correctly, pronunciation, intonation, and where to pause. When I am extremely fatigued, I begin to slur. I am often the last to hear it. My loved ones
know that is a sign I desperately need a nap.

I learned to how to write again after my support worker – a keen artist – and I had a chat about hand sewing. In my previous life, I was trained as a fashion designer. Sewing, knitting, crochet are some of my interests.

My rehabilitation continues to this day. Fatigue management is what myself and my Occupational Therapist are working on. Since the surgeries, I struggle with neurological fatigue. Chronic fatigue has been my constant companion for many years. Previously I was
able to manage it effectively, however, the combination of the two can keep me bedbound for weeks.

Therapy has been a fantastic addition to my rehabilitation especially as it deals with my grief. Losing every single little thing that made me, me has been the most traumatic of all. The moment my brain began to haemorrhage is the moment my life splintered into a million pieces. The future I had planned on was no longer attainable. Career – I was working in Oil and Gas construction – gone. Family – shattered. Relationship – destroyed. The emotional fallout on my loved ones is still evident now.

After the first MRI to check for regrowth, another blow fell. My neurosurgeon delivered the devastating news that the tumour was still present inside the Cerebellum. This time it was deemed inoperable. I remember thinking to myself this journey is a nightmare that will not
end. Two subsequent tumours have been located on the Brain Stem and also deemed inoperable.

Fortunately, the regular MRI’s have shown the tumours – Beryl, Meryl, and Cheryl – to have no evidence of regrowth. Due to the rare nature of the Rosette Forming Glioneuroma, there is no effective chemotherapy treatment available. My neurosurgeon is of the opinion
that radiation may not be effective and therefore better to not proceed in the unlikely event that the tumours mutate to Glioblastomas.

Thankfully after an incredible amount of hard work, practice, and tears, the physical deficits appear negligible. Those who have not known me before this journey have no idea that I have fought a horrendous battle. Nor do they realise that the war continues, and will forever continue.

I am currently studying to be a life coach. I speak to clinicians in the public health sector and share my story at neurological support groups around the State. I serve as Secretary on the Board of the Health Consumer Council (Western Australia).

It has been almost five years since my life irrevocably shattered into countless fragments. Much like the art and craft I enjoy so much, I am daily reconstructing those fragments into a masterpiece of my own creation. I will arise more formidable and more beautiful than I
was before.

Palliative Care – or Quality of Life Care?

Posted on July 24, 2019

By Pip Brennan, Health Consumers’ Council Executive Director

On Saturday 20th July I attended an event in the community, run by the Uniting Church on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill. One of the speakers was Emma-Jade Sanderson, who is the Chair of the Joint Select Committee on End of Life Choices. The My Life My Choices Report from this committee is a weighty 600 pages, and a 16-page summary of the report and the response from the current government is also available.

As we noted in pages 9-10 of our Autumn edition of Health Matters, there are divergent views on end of life choices. A key concern from disability advocate Sam Connor was the systemic discrimination of people with disabilities, and the plea to be assisted to live, before being assisted to die.

Our submission to the WA Voluntary Assisted Dying Legislation Consultation echoed this concern. We also noted that “In truth, VAD is going to be accessible to very few people.” What is going to make the most difference to the most West Australians we believe, is access to good quality palliative care.

It would be wonderful if palliative care had more positive community connotations – about living well, having choice and comfort from distressing symptoms.

So I took great heart from Amber-Jade Sanderson’s reflection that whenever there is a focus on voluntary assisted dying in any jurisdiction around the world, more focus and funding is put onto palliative care. And right now there are important opportunities to influence palliative care/ quality of life care.

Your opportunity to have a say on Palliative Care

Summit

On Saturday 24th August there is an important opportunity to have your say on palliative care. A summit is being convened at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre:

  • 7am Breakfast
  • 9am Summit

You can book for both (“with breakfast” option), or just for the Summit (“without breakfast”) option.

This is an opportunity to bring together everyone interested in the delivery of palliative care in Western Australia – Health professionals, general practitioners, palliative care specialists, health consumers and carers. It aims to shape how we put into practice Recommendations 7-18 of the My Life My Choices Report, the Palliative Care Strategy 2018 – 2028 and relevant Sustainable Health Review Report 2018 Recommendations. Attendees are encouraged to share their experiences to provide insight and influence the provision of high quality palliative care for all Western Australians. It is a partnership event with Palliative Care WA, WA Country Health Service, WA Primary Health Alliance, Palliative and Supportive Care Education and the Health Consumers’ Council of WA.

An additional session will be held by video conference from multiple sites across regional WA for those unable to travel to Perth on Monday 19 August from 10am to 1.00pm.

Please note that the registration form requires you to complete the job title and place of work. You can just complete “Consumer” or “Carer” for both Job Title and Company/ Organisation. For address you can complete your own address or write the words “Home Address” if you don’t want to complete this information. You can repeat your home number or mobile number for Work Phone.

Register Here

Survey

Whether or not you want to attend, you can have your say in this short survey – you can have a look at the questions here before you jump online and complete the survey.

Complete the survey here

 

 

Why am I here? Because Informed consent…

Posted on July 14, 2019

By Pip Brennan, Health Consumers’ Council Executive Director

This week, the I have the honour as the Health Consumers’ Council Executive Director to be guest tweeter on the Croakey @WePublicHealth page for the week of 15th July 2019.

For the first tweet I thought it only polite to introduce myself, and it got me to thinking again – why am I here? Why am I in this role? Why did I choose the topic of Informed Consent this week? In many ways informed consent is at the heart of most health complaints, and is a core part of why I believe in the importance of the work of the Health Consumers Council.

My passion for informed consent started from this GP conversation that happened to me and I would suspect pretty much every pregnant women in Australia:

GP: Congratulations, you’re pregnant! Do you have private health insurance?

Woman: Yes

GP: Which obstetrician would you like?

This is not an informed consent conversation. Why not? Because there is no mention of midwifery-led services here. There is no nuanced conversation about the evidence-based models of care that note that if you are low risk, you don’t actually need an obstetrician.

Like many people, my first real adult interaction with the health system was when I was pregnant. It really got me thinking, why is it so hard to access evidence-based models of care because they happen to be midwifery led? In my nearly twenty years as a consumer representative, I don’t believe this initial GP conversation has shifted in the way I hope it will in time.

I also think this type of conversation is by no means unique to maternity care, and that the path from the GP to a surgical specialist is short, with not enough detours past midwifery, nursing and allied health professionals. Not so long ago, my partner came off his bike and attended a GP. The advice was that it possibly was a full thickness rotator cuff tear in his shoulder, and surgery was required. However, the physiotherapist he went to noted it was a partial tear and gave him exercises. It healed beautifully over the next six to eight weeks without any need to trouble the surgeon.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very committed to the importance of having a really good GP that knows you over the course of your life, and here at the Health Consumers Council we regularly advise consumers to invest time in finding the right GP. I am very attached to my GP and she is a really key part of my wellness plan. But GPs are usually the gateway to the path of care we can travel, and it’s important that we choose the right care for our circumstances. The consumer always pays the ultimate price for their own health care choices.

Twenty years ago, after much research and some very good luck at stumbling across a birthing centre in a local hospital, plus the grace of everything going well on the day, I was able to have the drug free delivery I was hoping for. I have never forgotten the day my daughter was born. The medical and midwifery staff would have gone home at the end of the shift and likely not given it another thought.

In short, informed consent is a fundamental consumer right. And to exercise that right, we need to know that a) it’s OK to ask questions, and b) it’s also OK to say “can I think about this” or even “no” to suggested treatments.

Pip Brennan is Executive Director of the Health Consumers Council in WA, and independent, not for profit organisation dedicated to ensuring the consumer voice is at the heart of health policy, service planning and review. Pip has worked in the community sector for the last 18 years. Inspired by her own experiences of the confusing maternity care system, Pip initially volunteered as a maternity consumer representative in a range of roles. She began her paid health career as an Advocate working at the Health Consumers’ Council (HCC) from 2006. She has been a conciliator of health complaints, a health NGO professional and always a firm believer in the value of consumers being at the table. She took on the role of Executive Director of the Health Consumers Council in WA from 2015 and was a panel member on the state’s recent Sustainable Health Review.

A day at HCC

Posted on February 1, 2019

Early in January, a Graduate Project Officer from the WA Department of Health Graduate Development Program spent half a day in our offices, shadowing HCC director Pip Brennan. Emily had the opportunity to talk to our engagement and advocacy teams, and learn more about how our organisation works, giving her a better understanding of how HCC advocates for consumers and how HCC operates at a high level. 

“Meeting the Individual Advocacy team was a unique experience,” Emily said.

“I learnt how such services are provided and how the tireless work of the HCC advocates brings about life changing outcomes for consumers. Being an individual advocate proves to be a diverse and rewarding role, as each consumer’s case is unique.”

Being passionate about social justice and advocacy herself, Emily said the idea of collaborating with consumers to reach the best possible outcome was inspiring.

“It was wonderful to see that the voice of consumers is being heard and action is being taken accordingly.”

The highlight of Emily’s shadowing opportunity was sitting in on a meeting with director Pip Brennan and Engagement Manager Clare Mullen. The planning and brainstorming processes she observed focused on future events and initiatives.  

“It was inspiring to see such passion be incorporated into planning and I admired the way Pip and Clare encouraged creative thinking.”

Emily’s shared the key learnings she gained from the experienced.

“Understanding a situation or proposal from a range of perspectives is essential to the success of an idea,” she said.

“Forming mutual respect and creating positive relationships with stakeholders results in enhanced collaboration and ultimately better outcomes for all.”

Her third takeaway was acknowledging that there is a lot of good will and grand efforts being undertaken by people across the health sector.

“It can be easy to forget the good amongst negative headlines and situations; however, in order to ensure good things continue to be undertaken it is important to recognise people’s efforts and motivate them to continue,” Emily said.

HCC would like to thank Emily for her time and hope that the opportunity to learn about HCC’s consumer advocacy and our operations were beneficial to her future career in health.

Reflections of a Health Consumer Advocate on Social Marketing

Posted on December 19, 2018

By Pip Brennan, Health Consumers’ Council Executive Director

Change 2018 Conference, Griffith University

social marketing [is defined] as “the application of proven concepts and techniques drawn from the commercial sector to promote changes in diverse socially important behaviors such as drug use, smoking, sexual behavior… This marketing approach has an immense potential to affect major social problems if we can only learn how to harness its power.”


Andreasen A. Marketing social change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1995.

What is social marketing? Why should we care?

The first time I heard Griffith University’s Sharyn Rundle-Thiele present on social marketing was in Perth, at Murdoch University. She was one of the guest speakers at an Australian Association of Social Marketing event presented by Perth-based social enterprise Marketing for Change. You may recall that Marketing for Change supported HCC to undertake community consultations for the Sustainable Health Review. The first thing that struck me as I waited for Sharyn’s session to begin was how different the audience was from my usual work-related presentations. There was not one WA Health Department staff member in the audience, but there were many local government agencies.

What also struck me about her presentation was not just how well-polished it was, but also how Sharyn was channeling and mobilizing among a new generation of students under her watch at Griffith a passion and capacity for co-designing social marketing messages with the very people the messages are designed to move.

The message that really landed for me in listening to Sharyn that day in Murdoch, was that the traditional preventative health leaflet will at best change behaviours for about 7% of those that read it. There was so much room for improvement, and the answer it seemed was not just better segmenting the message for those different audiences, but working with those audiences to make sure the messages land and wherever possible working beyond mere messaging to give people alternatives and not a message telling them what they ought to do.

As a consumer advocate who spends so much time trying to ensure the consumer voice is at the heart of our health service planning, this new world of public health messaging is a whole new frontier that consumer advocates needs to be aware of, and perhaps most importantly be taking a lead role in. It seems that there is a unified cry across Australia that more needs to be done in preventative health. Now it is up to consumers to ensure that preventative health is “done with” and not “done for” people.

Change 2018, Brisbane

This introduction to Social Marketing in Murdoch encouraged me to self-fund to attend a unique event at Griffith University – Change 2018. Over two days in October this year, I sat in a lecture theatre in Griffith University, a lone not for profit consumer advocacy professional in a sea of marketing professionals and consultants, academics, policy makers and government purchasers of social marketing.

I’m used to being the odd one out. I sat up the front and listened over two days, and as an outsider to the field, I took away some key insights to place social marketing squarely in the frame of a key tool to empower consumers in preventative health.

1. Social Marketing = Marketing for good

Some of the presenters were refugees from the world of commercial marketing. One noted that she threw in the towel as a marketer after she baulked at marketing alcohol to teenagers.

The reality is, we all know that marketing techniques work. What would it look like if we used these powerful tools for good?

2. Is there a problem? What actually is the problem?

The opening presentation by Professor Gerard Hastings used the story of the man whose lovely friendly Labrador dog turns up one day with the neighbour’s very dead rabbit in his mouth. This very neighbour is off on holiday and has charged the dog owner with looking after the garden, bringing in the mail etc. The very dead rabbit looks very much the worse for wear from the Labradors burying and digging up, so is washed and put back into his cage. When the neighhbour returns from holiday he is very thankful about the care and maintenance of the yard and post. He is just a bit surprised that the rabbit which had died just before they had left and had been buried in the back yard somehow magically appearing back in his cage. The point is, sometimes there is a strong belief there is a problem to be solved-but more informed research would have helped the Labrador owner to know there wasn’t a problem at all. This is one of marketing’s strengths – research that listens and learns in contrast to research asks and tells.

3. Marketing has many tools. Use them all!

Different presentations addressed the four Ps of traditional marketing (product, placement, promotion, price). A great case study was presented of a partnership project between a school and a local supermarket, which matched lessons for primary school students in diversifying the fruits and vegetables that families ate with low-priced produce which allowed the children to try different fruits and vegetables for themselves. The idea was that once the children had a chance to try the different tastes, they would continue to eat them, and meet the goal of diversifying the fresh foods that kids eat.

The point of this is – that while social marketing is most definitely not all about promotion, there are opportunities to consider how to use products, prices and placements to continue to nudge behaviours towards more positive, life-affirming ones.

Having said that, the key principle is that good social marketers work with end-users to identify the best intervention mix. Often, promotion isn’t even a part of it.

Nothing turns the curve in the regions like a community champion

The disconnect between policy makers in cities and the regional citizens they are hoping to influence can be enormous. A cane sugar farmer described how he personally had moved from a position of being vehemently opposed to any kind of change to the farming practices that had served his father and grandfather. It was the ability of the government representative to build a personal relationship, share the data about how less fertilizer and greater sugar yield would mean more profit for him, and a persistence to partner over the long haul as the successive crops proved the data right that helped create a community champion. The shift in attitude by this cane sugar farmer then caused a ripple effect that is continuing to extend across Queensland and into WA today.

Fear and statistics are popular with policy makers but don’t necessarily work…

Several presentations highlighted how government in particular are keen on social marketing campaigns which frighten people into better behaviour, and preferably include as many statistics as possible within the 3-minute advertisement. This can lead to a significant expenditure on campaigns which just don’t work.

Focus groups – are these on the nose?

Focus groups came under some criticism in terms of both their lack of diverse participants, and their tendency to ask people “what else would you like?” Being asked this open-ended question, and being in receipt of a nice morning tea and a voucher can lead people to feel they need to provide extra feedback which can dilute the social marketing message, creating a camel campaign doomed to failure.

Fundamentals of change

The closing address highlighted these key changes required to the way social marketers work:
• The focus needs to change from problem focused to solution-driven. Answers for many of the complex problems social marketers aim to tackle can be found at the community level. Sharing the problem with the general community as soon as possible will facilitate a solution focused approach
• Doing to vs doing with – the mantra “nothing about us without us” applies just as well in social marketing as it does on health consumer advocacy.
• Expert driven – to citizen led. Social marketers and other experts can never be experts in someone else’s world.
• Government driven – to on the ground/community led. No more fear-based, statistic-heavy expensive interventions!
• Solos to partnerships – thinking creatively about not for profit, government, academic and commercial partnerships can create a more effective campaign that leverages all the concepts of promotion product, preplacement and price.

Social Marketing and Preventative Health

I attended this conference because I thought there was something important on the horizon with our state’s likely increased focus on preventative health. I wanted to understand more about what social marketing could and should be for Western Australians. I left the conference more convinced than ever that this is a key tool to support creating a healthier society. As always, the key needs to be involving consumers from the beginning, and all the way through any initiative or campaign.