Evolving models of health consumer and community engagement

Groups related to this event

Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research
Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science

Event date

Thursday, 8 September 2016

Speaker:

Ms Serena Joyner, Health Consumers NSW

Abstract:

“Having active and informed consumers as equal partners in decision-making processes at all levels of the healthcare system is … the central concept for both consumer engagement and patient-centred care”. (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care)

Health consumer participation and community engagement often means different things to different people. Across Australia, health services are finding some guidance through the national standards that more specifically identify how clinical services should be engaging with consumers. Fresh approaches are emerging through the championing of co-design and co-production, as well as the imperative for primary health networks to employ commissioning to provide regionally responsive services.

The Health Consumers NSW/WentWest Consumer and Community Engagement Model aims to provide scaffolding for each of these approaches and is being used by health services (and other care and community sectors) to design, implement or strengthen engagement programs. We are actively looking at how this model can support organisations seeking to engage effectively with consumers through the approaches listed above.

Evaluation and evidence is another area that hasn’t been strong in the area of health consumer engagement. We are also looking to both practitioners and the research community to explore how this model can be both evaluated, and also used to evaluate consumer and community engagement activities.

Speaker profile:

Serena Joyner is the Consumer Engagement Manager at Health Consumers NSW. An experienced facilitator and project manager with a Master of Social Research (ANU), Serena collaborates with health services to help build and strengthen their engagement programs.

In 2015 Serena project managed the joint WentWest-HCNSW project that produced a new Consumer and Community Engagement Model. In an earlier role she spent four years supporting health consumer representatives and consumer leaders with the implementation of a joint Medicare Local/Local Health District consumer engagement program.

Serena applies her cross-disciplinary background of process engineering and knowledge management to help break down barriers for consumers to participate in health on a level playing field.

Seminar details:

Date: Thursday 8^th September 2016

Time: 12pm - 1pm

Venue: Seminar room, Level 1, 75 Talavera Road, Macquarie University

Chair: Associate Professor Meredith Makeham

To register for this seminar please click here.