Search Results for: health information

Patient Experience Wrap-Up Day One

Posted on May 27, 2016

On Thursday 28th and Friday 29th April the Health Consumers’ Council hosted our inaugural Patient Experience Week (PXW) with a series of events at The Boulevard Centre in Floreat. We are excited to be finalising our new HCC Podcast of those events we were able to record, and in the meantime, here are some event highlights for you from day one of PXW.

The Welcome and Introduction

Olman Walley gave a Welcome to Country on both days, providing his own unique and gracious welcome in language and with music. His didgeridoo playing was evocative and on the second day, and veered off into rap. Sense of humour that one!

Pip Brennan presented on behalf of the HCC and thanked the sponsors Illuminance and Empower ICT who provided essential support for the event. Pip then spoke about how HCC supported consumers individually through advocacy and supported health reform through consumer representative training and sector support. The importance of supporting the health sector in working with Aboriginal as well as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities was highlighted. Pip also referenced the December 2015 Clinical Senate Debate on the Patient Experience. She particularly highlighted the four Recommendations from that debate which were endorsed and therefore WA Health has a mandate to ensure they are implemented. The Recommendations are:

Pip Podium 4

  1. WA Health should introduce a system-wide, consistently branded ‘Patient First’ program that drives the patient experience agenda and under which all key patient experience improvement programs are measured, with results publically available.
  2. In consultation with consumer and carer peak bodies:
    •A statewide definition of a great patient experience is developed that incorporates a value-based, patient-centered approach. WA Health, as system manager, is to ensure this is adopted by the whole of Health.
    •Patient experience tools are developed or selected for use that reflect the indicators that matter to patients.
  3. The Senate recommends that a consumer is appointed as a member of State Health Executive Forum (or its equivalent post legislative amendments to create Health Service boards).
  4. The Senate recommends Chief Executive Officers visibly and actively lead consumer partnership programs and have related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in their performance agreement with their boards.

To see the full presentation, click here.

The Director General

The Director General of WA Health formally opened the launch and stated WA Health’s commitment to patient care, patient safety and providing the best patient experience. He highlighted that it is essential to have an organisational culture where staff feel valued and respected, and patients are treated with dignity and respect. In order to achieve that, consumers must be involved in strategic processes that guide the planning, design and evaluation of health services. He referenced the December 2015 Clinical Senate Debate on Patient Experience  and highlighted WA Health’s commitment to developing a Compassionate Care initiative. Compassionate Care is about the way in which people relate to each other. This means the way staff treat each other as well as they way they treat patients. His powerpoint can be accessed by clicking here.

DG PodiumThe Director General closed with these statements:

  • The patient journey is unique to each person. Every interaction with patients and their families impacts on their experience.
  • We must transparently measure the patient experience.
  • Lessons learnt – through both positive and negative feedback – can be used to improve health services.
  • A system-wide definition of a great patient experience should be developed.
  • Consumers must be involved in the planning, design and evaluation of health services.
  • It is essential to have an organisational culture where staff feel valued and respected, and patients are treated with dignity and respect.
  • This starts with our behaviour and our values.

Dr Karen Luxford

 

We were then joined on Skype by Dr Karen Luxford, Director of the NSW’s Clinical Excellence Commission. The gremlins were with us at this point, so the Skype presentation didn’t record. After Patient Experience Week was over, Karen kindly agreed to be interviewed about the Clinical Excellence Commission, their Patient Experience Week events and why the patient experience movement is important. You can listen to that audio by clicking the link below:

The final presentation of the launch was by the irrepressible Jason Wolf, CEO of The Beryl Institute. The Beryl Institute is an international community of health professionals, consumer, carer and community members dedicated to improving patient experience in health care. His presentation was highly motivating, and can be watched by clicking the arrow below. Alternatively you can view his slide presentation here.

The Actors – Two Sides to the Patient Experience

Straight after the launch, Agents Improvocateurs took to the stage to enact a patient journey scenario, inspired by stories HCC hears from consumers who seek our advocacy assistance. In the scenario, a patient had been stung by a bee near her breast and attended the Emergency Department and was then put on a children’s ward where she endured hours of hunger, (children’s portion dinners) pain (failed insertion of a cannula to administer antiobiotics, then a reaction to those antibiotics) and being ignored. She was also confused and frightened by talk of a possible mastectomy in a discussion between two health professionals in a conversation in her hearing which excluded her. The audience offered suggestions for how things could be done differently and the scenario was played through again. It also explored the situation from the provider perspective – each interaction always has at least two people and in this one we explored the fears and humiliation of the nurse who had failed to insert the cannula. Alma Digweed from Bentley Community Advisory Council agreed to join the actors on the stage and was the star of the show.

Lunchbox Session – Organisational Approaches to Patient Experience

This diverse session included a presentation from Anita Deakin and Carmel Crock, in relation to the Emergency Medicines Events Register (EMER). This interesting and innovative tool is a change management mechanism in that in encourages both clinicians and consumers to report near misses and develop a culture which supports a learning approach to near misses to support a safer patient culture. The Powerpoint presentation is available here, and you can find out more about EMER here.

Next up was James Sherriff, General Manager of St John’s Ambulance and former paramedic. James’ presentation focused on the internal change that St Johns have actively sought within the organisation to ensure front line staff always have the patient at the centre of the care. You can view his Powerpoint here.

The session closed with HCC’s Dr Martin Whitely and Murdoch researcher Dr Norman Stomski describing a key research project they have been collaborating on. HCC provides individual advocacy for mental health consumers who are voluntary. HCC sought to better understand what the advocacy intervention meant for consumers whose patient journey was far from smooth. 60 de-identified individual advocacy cases were written up for research analysis. Martin and Norman’s joint presentation can be viewed here.

Workshop Session – Partnering for Patient Experience

The day concluded with a workshop facilitated by HCC’s Steph Newell. Presenting was Professor Anne Williams on her years of research and development of Patient Experience Tools – known as PEECE and PEECH. Helen Fernando from South Australia presented on the unique and effective Messenger Model that she has developed, and  a version of the concept runs at Flinders Medical Centre. The Messenger Model involves the consumer representative providing a conduit for information about health care needs and experiences to reach front-line staff during the episode of care. The feedback about what has gone well or otherwise alerts staff to issues that may be addressed whilst the patient and family are still in the care of the health professional team so that the patient experience can be transformed. Steph Newell explained the key factors of partnership – trust and common purpose. During the workshop session, audience members were encourage to view sections of this video on patient experience and consider the scenarios within the context of the tools discussed – PEECE, PEECH and the Messenger Model.

The Theme, The Crowd

We aligned with the international theme for 2016 Patient Experience – “Connecting for Patient Experience – We are ALL the Patient Experience”

Self-managing Your Chronic Condition

Posted on May 15, 2016

Health Consumers have contributed and starred in a number of videos about how to self-manage your chronic condition. You can view these below.

You may also be interested in this WA Health resource: Living Life to the Full with a Chronic Condition

Click here to read the Chronic Disease Management: Patient Information pages from the Department of Health Australia.

Diversity Dialogues

Posted on May 11, 2016

may-diversity-dialogues-2015

Panelists of ‘A Multicultural Perspective on Pregnancy, Childbirth and Postnatal Care’ in Partnership with Department of Nursing & Midwifery Education and Research at KEMH, May 2015

The Diversity Dialogues seminar series has been developed by HCC for consumers and health service providers to explore ways to develop hospital services and patient care strategies that respond to cultural diversity.

Diversity Dialogues comprise a panel discussion where the panelists are from a range of cultural backgrounds, who share their knowledge and experiences around culturally aware practice, building culturally inclusive services and discussing the importance of cultural awareness in best practice. They can be run in partnership with a health service which will host the event. The outcome of the forums is to formulate recommendations regarding best practice.

Diversity Dialogue events are run on particular themes, such as pregnancy, mental health or sexual health.  Information about Past Diversity Dialogues is available here.

To express your interest in the next forum, or to talk to us about hosting a dialogue at your workplace, get in touch. 

 

 

Working with Consumers

Posted on May 11, 2016

HCC provides a range of support services for health providers who are seeking to increase consumer engagement in health service policy, planning and review.

We are always available to have a chat about your project or plans, however some of our services may attract a fee. Please contact us on info@hconc.org.au if you’d like to discuss this further.

Health Service Consulting

Our consulting services support consumer-focused organisations with the design and development of innovative, contemporary approaches to consumer and community partnerships and involvement. With a people-first approach and a consumer/lived experience lens at the heart of everything we do, our work helps health organisations and staff feel more confident to work with consumers in a meaningful way.

Promoting a Consumer Representative Opportunity

If you are looking for consumers for your committee or project, we may be able to assist you by promoting the opportunity through our networks.

Please download this document and return the requested information to kieran.bindahneem@hconc.org.au

You may also wish to read about some things to consider when involving and partnering with consumers on working groups or committees.

Training for Consumers

We provide free Introduction to Consumer Representation training for health consumers who are interested in becoming a consumer representative.

You can find out more about this training and view upcoming dates here.

We can also run this training on a bespoke basis for your consumer advisory group – find out more here.

Cultural Diversity

We offer a range of free and fee for service workshops to assist health workers gain knowledge and skills to communicate and engage more effectively with people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD), ethnoculturally and linguistically diverse (ELD), and new and emerging communities. Click here to find out more.

For further information

Please contact the Health Consumers Council Engagement team on 9221 3422 or email info@hconc.org.au

Introduction to Consumer Representation

Posted on May 11, 2016

 

 

 

Would you like to use your experience as a patient or carer to create a better health system? We know that pro-active and skilled Consumer Representatives can do just that, and this introductory course will help you get started.

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.

This highly interactive workshop will give you the opportunity to hear, learn and think about important information for consumer representatives including:

  • The roles and purpose of a consumer representative
  • The benefits of consumer representation
  • Barriers to participation for consumer representatives
  • Overcoming barriers to participation
  • Maintaining effectiveness as a consumer representative

Book now and see why people are loving our new, highly interactive learning experiences at HCC

Workshop duration

4 hours

Workshop Location

Health Consumers’ Council, Unit 4, 434 Lord Street, Mount Lawley

Next sessions

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award

Posted on May 1, 2016

This award is to acknowledge outstanding service to Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander health consumers. The candidates can be an Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander person or organisation.

Aboriginal Health Team

This holistic services offers a range of health services and screening in one clinic. There are 9 locations for this innovative service. There are also 4 playgroups across the metropolitan offered after consulting with consumers. The purpose of the playgroup is to get the children ready for school, plus empower the mothers, assist the mums to read to their children, plus mimic the activities utilised each week.

Boodjari Yorgas Family Care Program

The Boodjari Yorgas family care group, including its Aboriginal Grandmothers, are involved on a daily basis with Aboriginal women and their families as ‘consumers’ of maternity care, making sure their needs are met, that they are able to attend appointments, and have a consistent person available to them to answer questions and help them negotiate the, often complex, maternity care system.

Christine Parry | Boodjari Yorgas Family Care Program

Christine Parry has been part of the Moort Boodjari Yorga’s antenatal program since its beginning. Christine’s knowledge is exceptional, and she has contributed to improving non- Aboriginal health professionals cultural understanding of women’s needs and that her Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal colleagues are able to effectively work within the health system to care for Aboriginal women during the important events of pregnancy, birth and early parenting.

Kerri Colgate | St John of God Midland

While patients are in hospital Kerri supports staff to deliver a culturally safe model of care. In addition, Kerri creates relationships between the hospital and community service providers to ensure people get what they need after discharge back into the community. She maintains contact once people have been discharged and supports people to understand their health and how to stay well.

Living Improvements For Everyone (L.I.F.E)

The Chronic Disease Self-Management Living Improvements for Everyone (L.I.F.E) Program objective is to improve the capacity and participation of Aboriginal people in Metropolitan region of Perth in the self- management of chronic disease. This is achieved through the delivery of the LIFE course and culturally secure training and education programs to increase knowledge of chronic disease management for health care professionals and community members.

Leah Bonson | Child and Adolescent Health Service

Leah has worked tirelessly to support the Child and Adolescent Health Service to be more culturally supportive of Aboriginal patients, with a focus on supporting the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

Peter Humphries and Natasha Garlett | Aboriginal Health Liaison Officers, East Metro Health Service

The liaison officers in the LIFE program both Peter and Natasha provide support to improve Aboriginal health by working with the Aboriginal community and other relevant agencies. They do this effectively by treating consumers with dignity and respect.  They share information and knowledge with skill and care. As LIFE Program facilitators they have a wonderful rapport with participants based upon respect and sharing of information in a culturally appropriate way. The partnership between facilitator and consumer is a two-way learning that is professionally embraced.

WA Cervical Cancer Prevention Program

The creation of this resource in partnership with Aboriginal women from across WA has ensured that relevant, timely, culturally appropriate and user friendly information is utilised in the educational strategies targeted to this consumer group. It results in a better understanding of health risks and greater acceptance of cervical cancer prevention strategies for this group of women.

EMER: How consumers & clinicians can improve patient experiences in Hospital Emergency Departments

Posted on April 19, 2016

1 in 10 diagnoses made by a doctor, is thought to be incorrect. It is estimated that each year in Australia 8,000 patients die from medical error. 300,000 hospital admissions are associated with potentially preventable adverse events. The Emergency Medicine Events Register otherwise known as EMER, was developed so that consumers and clinicians could report adverse incidents. To allow clinicians to learn from their mistakes and create an open culture of discussing patient safety.

 

Speaking at ‘Organisational Approaches to Implementing Patient Experience: Lunch Box Session’ from EMER are Anita Deakin and Dr Carmel Crock (Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital & ACEM). ‘EMER is an adverse event and near-miss reporting system that is peer-led, online, anonymous and confidential. It is a means of supporting improvement in safety and quality in emergency medicine by understanding of contributing factors and how the risk of harm to patients can be minimised or prevented.’ (emer.org.au)

 

An important factor to practice improvement in the Emergency Department (ED) requires hearing about the care experiences of patients and their family member or carer. Their experience and perspective (whether it be good or bad) is a key aspect to ensuring patient safety and high quality care in all areas of health care. It is important that health care staff are able to learn from consumer’s experiences to ensure they are providing the best quality of safe health care.

 

The following is an interview with Anita Deakin and Dr Carmel Crock:

Why did EMER consider consumer reporting?

Patients have a very different perspective to medical professionals – they see things that we don’t necessarily see and they are an essential part of the team. The patient voice is extremely important and has often been overlooked in patient safety endeavors.

 

What involvement did consumers have in developing EMER?

From the inception of EMER we have had a consumer advocate on the Steering Group. Every step of the way we have considered how EMER could benefit consumers and how best we could engage them in the process. When we decided to introduce a consumer portal into EMER we involved consumers in developing the content and in testing it.

 

How does EMER improve patient experiences?

We are hoping it will improve patient experience by changing the culture of emergency medicine to openly discuss patient safety concerns within the specialty. We want to hear the patient’s voice.

 

Once the data has been collected, compiled and analysed, are the findings conveyed to the health services to facilitate system change in health care?

Once the data has been collected, compiled and analysed the findings are fed back to the specialty so that trainees and specialists get to hear about the types of incidents that are occurring in Emergency Departments. Some of the ways that we provide feedback is by writing patient safety alerts, journal articles and conference presentations both nationally and internationally.

 

If so what mechanism is used to facilitate system improvements?​

We look for patterns or “common themes” within the incidents reported and feed this information back to the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) that is responsible for training emergency medicine specialists. In this way the college is able to address these themes in their education and training.

 

Why is it important that consumers report these adverse incidents and what benefit they get by reporting them? Why did EMER think it was important to include consumers in the reporting of incidents? I understand that this is revolutionary and that nothing similar is being conducted elsewhere.

 It is important for consumers to report adverse events so that system changes can be made to make Emergency Departments safer for all involved. Often consumers see things that clinicians aren’t aware of, or see it from a different perspective. The consumer and the clinicians are both essential team members in the patient safety quest.

 

The EMER model works in the following way:

Identify – Report – Improve

Identify risks to patient safety

The types of errors that EMER want reported into the system are any incident in the emergency department that either did cause harm or could have caused harm to a patient. This would include things such as diagnostic error, errors around procedures, medication error, errors around clinical handover and safe transfer of patients from the emergency department.

EMER records the serious incidents, but also near misses, good saves, and adverse events. Collecting near misses is very important because for every adverse event there are 10 near misses.

EMER want Emergency doctors and nurses to discuss error openly, they want them to think about patient safety, to think about how things could be done better. To discuss incidents with their supervisors, with medical students, with nurses, to create an open culture of discussing patient safety and error.

Report – Report adverse events and near misses.

The anonymous online system is easy to use and only requires five minutes to enter the incident. Everyone involved with the incident from the consumer to the clinician are able to enter the information required.

When the information is collected it is classified using the Advanced Incident Management System (AIMS), a tool that was used to develop the international classification for patient safety.

Improve – Inform clinical practice and system change

EMER provide immediate feedback to those who report an incident. Once they have read the report it takes them to a thank you page which provide information about the incident which includes a simple graphical representation of the data. It also includes an incident of the month, which provides users an example of what other people are reporting and information that is of interest to the research team.

Once the incidents have been classified using the Advanced Incident Management System (AIMS), specialists from multi-disciplinary groups then review the incidents to determine how they could have been prevented.

To find out more EMER register for the free session ‘Organisational Approaches to Implementing Patient Experience: Lunch Box Session’ on Thursday April 28, 2016. Sponsored by Illuminance Solutions and Empower ICT.

 

Sources:

  • Anita Deakin
  • Dr Carmel Crock, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital & ACEM

 

Patient Experience Week is Launched!

Posted on February 24, 2016

Patient Experience Week Event Series_Poster

In 2015 the Health Consumers’ Council took the decision to begin a tradition of running events during the global Patient Experience Week which takes place annually in the last week of April. We have also shifted our Consumer Excellence Awards to close Patient Experience Week rather than being held at Christmas.

We are very excited to be able to build on the momentum of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, Partnering with Consumers, the current environment of change, reform and re-focus on the patient by bringing you our inaugural Patient Experience Week Event series on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 April. Highlights include; new author Kate Ryder talking about her book, ‘An Insider’s Guide to Getting the Best out of the Health System’ (Kate will have signed copies of her book available for purchase). Professor Michael Greco, Patient Opinion Australia CEO; Dr Karen Luxford, Clinical Excellence Commission of New South Wales, Director of Patient Based Care; Professor Anne Williams, Murdoch University, Chair of Health Research and Helen Fernando, Consumer Advocate and ‘Patients for Patient Safety’ champion, will present on the latest and best patient experience tools. Click here to book your events now!

Patient Experience Week is an initiative of the Beryl Institute. It is an annual event to celebrate healthcare staff impacting patient experience every day. Inspired by members of the Institute community, Patient Experience Week provides a focused time for organisations to celebrate accomplishments, re-energise efforts and honour the people who impact patient experience every day. From nurses and physicians, to support staff and executive professionals, to patients, families and communities served, the Institute hopes to bring together healthcare organisations across the globe to observe Patient Experience Week.

Patient Experience Week will close with the annual Health Consumers’ Council Health Consumer Excellence Awards. Since 1997 the Health Consumers’ Council has been celebrating the achievements of the unsung heroes in WA Health, from the administrator to the clinician and to recognise health consumers that go out of their way to make a difference. Nominations are now open, and close on April 15th, 2016.

You can always call (08) 9221 3422 or email info@hconc.org.au for more information.  Find us on Facebook or Twitter. Hash tag #hconcwa_PatientExpWk16

Patient Experience Week 2016

Posted on February 16, 2016

Highlights from Patient Experience 2016

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Di Bianchini

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The inaugural Health Consumers’ Council Patient Experience Week Event Series was held on April 28 and 29, 2016 at The Boulevard Centre. A copy of our full program for the two days is available from here. You can click on the links below for more information on each day as well as audios, videos and powerpoints where available.

Day One – Thursday April 28 2016

Our launch was virtually attended by Dr Jason Wolf,  President of the Beryl Institute, an international community of health professionals, consumer and community members dedicated to improving the patient experience. You can click here to view the video of his speech. Also at the launch was the Director General of WA Health, Dr David Russell-Weisz. The launch was directly followed by a theatre playback event which was a powerful interactive demonstration of both patient and care giver experiences. Workshops and presentations on different patient experience initiatives were then showcased.

Day Two – Friday April 29 2016

Day Two began with our best attended event – the Panel Discussion on the Aboriginal Patient Experience. The afternoon featured a massive Panel presenting on Patient Experience Measurement, which was filmed by West Link TV. You can view these presentations on our You Tube channel. For further information click on the title for Day Two.

2016 – HCC Health Consumer Excellence Awards

Our Patient Experience Events concluded with the Annual Health Consumer Excellence Awards held on Friday 29th April. Click on the link above to find out more about the 2016 winners.

Your Say on Cancer WA

Posted on February 15, 2016

A recent state-wide survey shows that many people don’t know that 30 – 40% of cancer cases in WA are preventable. With almost 12, 000 Western Australians diagnosed with cancer every year, this is both shocking and heartbreaking.

 

This information comes from a report recently released by the Department of Health entitled Priorities and Preferences for Cancer Control in Western Australia

 

This report summarises responses to an online public consultation conducted last year on the seven cancers which have the greatest impact on the WA community and greatest opportunity for prevention: bowel, breast, cervical, lung, melanoma, prostate and oesophageal/stomach cancer. The report has revealed that a third of participants were unaware that much could be done to prevent cancer.  In particular, many people were not aware of the dietary risk factors for bowel cancer and that cervical cancer is almost entirely preventable.

 

A poor understanding of the preventability of cancer is not necessarily surprising as historically, much of the discussion about cancer in the community has focused on treatment, sometimes to the detriment of prevention messages.  However, it does highlight the potential for reducing the pain, anguish and cost associated with treating cancer.

 

The value of this new report is that, in seeking out community views on priorities and preferences for cancer control it has identified some clear areas for increased action in the immediate future, including: Increasing the number of Western Australians participating in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program; Strengthening health promotion messages around recommended red meat intake; reducing processed meat consumption; reducing alcohol consumption; and reducing salt intake, as well as links between obesity and cancer risk; Working to raise the profile of cancer prevention and early detection; and Building on gains made in tackling harm caused by smoking, exposure to ultra violet radiation and asbestos, as well as exploring new and innovative programs to reach vulnerable groups and address emerging issues.

 

This is the first time the Chief Health Officer of WA has asked the community for feedback in a report and the first time (to my knowledge) an online forum has been used to gather community opinion on cancer prevention in WA. As a co-author on the report it was a privilege to bear witness to the frank, open and creative ideas for cancer prevention from our consultation participants.  We are very grateful for their input and the time they devoted to answering our questions.

 

The report was prepared in collaboration with a number of agencies including the Health Consumers’ Council WA, Cancer Council WA, Public Health Advocacy Institute of WA, Curtin University and WA Clinical Oncology Group.

 

To read more about the findings of the consultation and how the Department of Health is responding, you can access the full report here:

 

www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/~/media/Files/HealthyWA/Original/Your-say-on-cancer-wa/13009-chief-health-officer-report.ashx

 

As a project team we also had a lot of fun planning and putting together a consumer website with a range of supporting material including a summary of the report findings, some innovative infographics of cancer data, and expert videos.

 

Check out the website for yourselves here:

www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/yoursayoncancerwa

Guest Blogger: Dr Jennifer Girschik