Working with consumers

The con­sumer voice is impor­tant to us. We are com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty for con­sumers of health­care ser­vices to share their voice and expe­ri­ences to help dri­ve the plan­ning, design and deliv­ery of health­care ser­vices in South Australia. 

The CEIH also works close­ly with oth­er organ­i­sa­tions such as Health Trans­la­tion South Aus­tralia and Local Health Net­works to sup­port con­sumer engage­ment across the health sys­tem, and we strive to con­tin­u­al­ly improve how we sup­port the voice of con­sumers in health.

Strength­en­ing con­sumer involve­ment in healthcare

Through late 2021 – 2022, the CEIH facil­i­tat­ed a series of con­sumer engage­ment activ­i­ties cen­tred around two key questions: 

- What is mean­ing­ful con­sumer engage­ment and how do we mea­sure it? 

- What could the future of con­sumer engage­ment look like? 

The pur­pose was to seek the per­spec­tives of health­care con­sumers, car­ers, fam­i­ly, clin­i­cians and the com­mu­ni­ty gen­er­al­ly, with view to ensur­ing South Australia’s health sys­tem is engag­ing effec­tive­ly and using con­sumer input to dri­ve improve­ments and innovations. 

The process was dri­ven by the CEIH’s con­sumer rep­re­sen­ta­tives and includ­ed a forum in Ade­laide, an online sur­vey and region­al communications. 

For infor­ma­tion on key themes and rec­om­men­da­tions aris­ing from these activ­i­ties, read the sum­ma­ry and the final report.

Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work con­sumer representatives 

Our eight Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works include mem­ber­ship from con­sumer rep­re­sen­ta­tives on each of the net­work Steer­ing Com­mit­tees. We work col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly with con­sumers, who share their voic­es and health­care expe­ri­ences to help us under­stand the con­sumer expe­ri­ence, inform project design, dri­ve change, and improve health­care out­comes for South Aus­tralians in each of the Net­works’ eight clin­i­cal specialties.

For the lat­est news and project updates from our Net­works, see Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works news.

For more infor­ma­tion about our Net­works, see Statewide Clin­i­cal Networks

Con­sumer-led Com­mu­ni­ty of Consumers 

Our Com­mu­ni­ty of Con­sumers engages con­sumers, car­ers and the com­mu­ni­ty to pro­vide a stronger voice for con­sumers. The group sup­ports The CEIH by ensur­ing our con­sumer and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment is mean­ing­ful, effec­tive, and helps guide The CEIH pro­gram of work. 

We’re pleased to wel­come to the group, our new Con­sumer and Com­mu­ni­ty Lead, Paul Williams. Paul brings exten­sive expe­ri­ence in the con­sumer advo­ca­cy space and will work close­ly with The CEIH to facil­i­tate con­nec­tions with con­sumers, car­ers and com­mu­ni­ty to our work.

For more infor­ma­tion, see Com­mu­ni­ty of Con­sumers.

Con­sumer Co-Lead for the Statewide Pal­lia­tive Care Clin­i­cal Network

The CEIH has estab­lished Co-Lead roles for the Statewide Pal­lia­tive Care Clin­i­cal Net­work. Kathryn Houri­g­an, the network’s Co-Lead Con­sumer, pro­vides a con­sumer voice in a lead­er­ship role to cham­pi­on new ways of think­ing, and enhance com­mu­ni­ca­tion between care giv­er and care receiver.

Kathryn also rais­es aware­ness and advo­cates for the best pal­lia­tive care prin­ci­ples through col­lab­o­ra­tion, focus­ing on respect, com­pas­sion and enshrin­ing equi­ty of access for all who need pal­lia­tive care.

For more infor­ma­tion, see Rais­ing the voice of the silent con­sumer.

Youth Advi­so­ry Group 

Our Youth Advi­so­ry Group (YAG) is a joint ini­tia­tive of the The CEIH and the Statewide Ado­les­cent Tran­si­tion Care Clin­i­cal Net­work (SATC­CN).

YAG will help us under­stand young peo­ples’ voic­es and health­care expe­ri­ences to dri­ve change and improve health­care out­comes for young South Aus­tralians tran­si­tion­ing from ado­les­cent to adult heath­care services.

Expres­sions of inter­est are open to join YAG for young peo­ple aged 12 to 25 years. Mem­bers will get to share their voice and help improve the deliv­ery of the ser­vices and sup­ports that young peo­ple need to devel­op in healthy ways. 

Expres­sions of inter­est to join YAG close Mon­day, 31 Octo­ber 2022.

For more infor­ma­tion, see Youth Advi­so­ry Group.

Oth­er con­sumer engage­ment initiatives

The CEIH has also recent­ly engaged with con­sumers on ini­tia­tives, including:

• Involve­ment of con­sumers across CEIH led projects, forums and workshops
• Sup­port­ing Con­sumer Engage­ment roles across the health sys­tem with a Com­mu­ni­ty of Practice.

Key 2021 – 22 con­sumer highlights

Key high­lights from 2021 – 2022 for con­sumer engage­ment include:

• At the end of 2021 The CEIH held a Con­sumer Forum which explored the ques­tion: How do we know we’re achiev­ing mean­ing­ful Con­sumer Engage­ment and how do we mea­sure it? Read more
• CEIH fund­ing of the con­­sumer-led research project,​‘Min­imis­ing the bur­den of haematopoi­et­ic stem cell trans­plant through PRMs’. Read more
• Build­ing capa­bil­i­ty among The CEIH staff and Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work Leads, Clin­i­cal Com­mu­ni­ty of Prac­tice Chairs and The CEIH Com­mu­ni­ty of Con­sumers by deliv­er­ing tai­lored stake­hold­er and con­sumer engage­ment train­ing. Read more
• Con­sumer rep­re­sen­ta­tion on the work­ing group for the Germline Genet­ic Test­ing for Treat­ment project. Read more