Category: Blog

Housing as a health issue: Homelessness Week

Posted on August 4, 2025

As we head into Homelessness Week, we are all acutely aware of the housing crisis in Western Australia.

Recent research from Curtin University shows the depths of this crisis, with increasing numbers of people finding it hard to afford a home and over 40% of people who live in unaffordable housing experiencing poor physical or mental health. The report also tells us that homelessness in WA has risen 8% since 2016 and that the waiting list for social housing has grown to over 20 000. There are 6300 people who are considered to be of the highest priority of needs waiting for a home.

Sometimes we assume that all people experiencing homelessness are street present or “rough sleepers”. In fact, this is often not the case with many people (particularly women) who experience homelessness choosing to stay with family or friends, sleeping in their cars or staying in short term accommodation, which means they are often not visible and also underrepresented in data.

There is no debate that homelessness causes poor health with people who experience homeless experiencing much higher rates of mental health issues, stress and suicide. In addition to this, people who do not have a home tend not to access preventative health care, so their health needs are not addressed early and rapidly become more serious health concerns.

What often happens is that people who experience homelessness seek care at emergency departments of tertiary hospitals and their stay is often longer at these hospitals because there is no safe place for them to go upon discharge. The cost to the health system in treating and accommodating people who experience homelessness is considerable. In a recent study in Western Australia it was identified that over $400 000 was saved in the health system in 12 months by just three patients being placed in appropriate, safe, permanent accommodation. Hospital attendance and hospital admissions reduce significantly once housing needs are met, particularly if those housing needs include wrap around services such as integrated primary health care providers.

Of course we believe that safe, secure and permanent housing should be provided to everyone simply because it’s the right thing to do, for their physical and emotional wellbeing. However, we are aware that often times there needs to be an economic argument as well as a compassionate one, and well-designed social housing using Housing First principles seems to us to tick both boxes.

Photo by Gary Steadman of a reported bag

Photo by Gary Steadman of a reported bag from his LinkedIn post: “Thank you for bringing my living room to my attention.”

Housing First projects argue that housing should be provided first, rather than requiring people to meet a set of criteria before being provided with accommodation. This is a key change in the way homelessness is understood and managed, as it recognises that once someone has a home and appropriate support services nearby, it is much easier to transition into a situation where people may be able to seek work or otherwise make changes that allow less social isolation. Housing First principles make provision of housing a priority, while allowing the clients to access support services without conditions attached. The principles also eliminate the complexity of deciding who is more “worthy” of public housing, and rather just understands that housing is a human right and a health issue.

We are pleased to see some Housing First project progressing in the inner city of Perth and in Mandurah and some funding in the budget for further projects. While these projects are being built, however, we still see many street present people in our neighbourhoods, and this cold, wet weather makes us all acutely aware of how challenging and distressing this must be. We welcome initiatives like the Orange Sky mobile laundry and the Brollie Brigade who provide free mobile hot showers, haircuts and hygiene services, along with Street doctor services. These organisations work tirelessly on the front line of service provision for street present people.

We are still heartbroken though to hear stories of local government rangers removing or threatening to remove the possessions of street present people, as was highlighted recently on LinkedIn or the callous approach some local governments take to move on people who are sleeping in their vehicles or on the streets.

We consider homelessness to be a health issue, as well as a social one, and we welcome the appointment of a Minister for Preventative Health. We hope this preventative health lens takes a wide look at the social determinants of health, including housing, to ensure that housing programs continue to be a high priority for this government.

Bronwyn Ife  |  Systemic Advocacy and Engagement Lead

Media enquiries: 0488 701 839 | info@hconc.org.au

What will the new bulk billing incentives mean for consumers?

Posted on July 29, 2025

What will the new bulk billing incentives mean for consumers?

Cleanbill have released a report that forecasts what they believe will be the impact of the incoming Medicare bulk billing incentives.

From 1 November there will be increased Medicare rebates available to GPs who bulk bill all of their patients. This initiative was designed to increase the rates of bulk billing and make affordable primary care more accessible for all patients. The government announced that they forecast that about 80% of practices would end up being fully bulk billing practices as a result of these changes. This report questions this modelling and suggests that the increases in the number of bulk billing practices may be more modest than consumers and the government were hoping for.

According to the data that Cleanbill uses, right now in WA only 42 practices, or just under 7% of practices are entirely bulk billing practices, which means they bulk bill every patient, not just those who are eligible for concessions.

Cleanbill’s modelling suggests WA can expect a doubling of fully bulk billing practices, which may sound terrific, but given that we are coming off a pretty low base it’s not as much of a game-changer as we might have hoped. This would see 85 fully bulk billing practices in WA bringing the rate of practices bulk billing to close to 14%.

Currently across the country, Cleanbill estimates that just over 21% of practices are fully bulk billing. With the incentives being introduced in November, their modelling suggests that there will be 740 additional bulk billing clinics across the country, bringing the percentage of clinics who bulk bill to over 33%. The largest increases are forecast to be in Victoria and New South Wales.

The report goes on to model bulk billing rates if the bulk billing incentives were 10%, 20% and 30% higher than those that are being implemented in November. Unsurprisingly, this comparison shows that if the incentives were increased, we could expect considerably more practices to become fully bulk billing. The modelling shows that if incentives were 30% higher than those being proposed, then nearly 82% of WA practices would fully bulk bill which reflects the forecast national figures.

Primary healthcare is the foundation of good health for individuals and a well-functioning health system for everyone. Here at HCCWA we want to see quality primary health care that is accessible and affordable for everyone, and we hope that increased bulk billing incentives see more people being able to see their GP without cost being a barrier.

Consumers’ Health Forum are a federal health advocacy body who undertake extensive systemic advocacy on Medicare issues and like us, they will continue to closely monitor the impact of the new incentives.

When considering this data it is worth knowing that Cleanbill are not a research institute or a Think Tank, they are not connected to a not for profit group and nor are they a government initiative. Rather, Cleanbill is a practice listings business where practices can pay to have their information available. Cleanbill list all practices and their fees, including those who have not paid for a listing, but the accuracy of their information is unclear, as many practices are unaware of the listing and therefore do not have the chance to update or correct their information.

For this reason, we consider this information to be interesting and potentially useful, but it is important that it is viewed through the appropriate lens.

Bronwyn Ife  |  Systemic Advocacy and Engagement Lead

Media enquiries: 0488 701 839 | info@hconc.org.au

Listening and learning in the East Kimberley

Posted on July 28, 2025

 

At Health Consumers’ Council WA, we’re committed to representing the voices of health consumers across our vast state. So this month, Tania Harris and I travelled to the East Kimberley to connect with community members, health service providers, and local leaders about what matters most when it comes to healthcare in the region.

We joined the WACHS Kununurra Hospital team at the local agricultural show — a vibrant community event that gave us the chance to hear directly from locals. We also had the privilege of meeting with services doing vital work, including the Wyndham Aboriginal Youth Corporation, where Neville and his team are helping young people craft strong, purposeful futures. We met with the Nurse Partnership Program about their work supporting new mums on their journey through early motherhood, including the role of peer workers, to support people to have the best start in life. We also met the team at Kimberley Legal Service where we heard about their innovative program that combines legal support with social work support to provide a holistic service.

It was great to hear about the many strengths in the region — including the deep relationships between local health services — we also heard about the ongoing challenges for people in the region when accessing healthcare. For many, this can mean long trips to Perth, navigating unfamiliar hospital environments, far from family and Country. Many of us know how important the support is from family or loved ones to our healing and healthcare experience.

This visit reminded us once again how critical it is that regional voices are heard in state-level decisions. We remain committed to amplifying those voices as we advocate to health leaders across WA.

To those already speaking up — as consumer reps, members of District Health Advisory Councils, or community advocates — thank you. Your insights guide our work. Please reach out if there’s more we can do to support you.

Clare Mullen  |  Executive Director

Media enquiries: 0488 701 839 | info@hconc.org.au

Your voice at the table: HCCWA’s recent ministerial meetings

Posted on July 23, 2025

Building strong partnerships with WA’s new Ministerial team

Over the past few weeks, we have been busy meeting with the new ministerial team and their advisers. These meetings have been a great opportunity to share the experiences and priorities of health consumers across Western Australia. We’re pleased to report that the response from ministers and their teams has been very positive and encouraging.

Why these conversations matter
In all our discussions, Ministers and their advisers were genuinely interested in hearing about the diverse experiences of health consumers — the people who use health services every day. It’s clear that while many lobby groups approach government, our unique focus on the lived experiences of health consumers stands out as vital and valued.

Key highlights from our meetings

  • Making healthcare fair
    In our discussions with all the ministers and their teams, we discussed how consumers deserve healthcare that is fair for all. This includes

    • access to independent advocacy support to reduce harm and level the playing field if things go wrong
    • particular efforts to ensure that the concerns and interests of Aboriginal people, people from multicultural backgrounds, and people with intellectual disability are heard and not dismissed in healthcare settings
    • addressing the financial barriers to healthcare like expensive hospital parking fees.

 

  • Preventative health and system sustainability
    In our discussions with Minister Hammat – Minister for Health and Mental Health – and with Minister Winton’s team (Minister for Preventative Health) we talked about how health consumers and community members would like to see the commitment to increased investment in preventative health delivered on, noting it is a priority highlighted in the Sustainable Health Review. We also shared how critical it is for consumers to be involved at every level of decision-making, particularly as our health system evolves and faces workforce challenges. We recognised the strong work happening in some parts of WA health services to ensure consumer perspectives are understood from Board to bedside – and that there are more opportunities to build on these strong foundations.
  • Addressing the social determinants of health and weight stigma
    Our meeting with Minister Winton’s team reaffirmed their strong understanding of the social determinants of health and their commitment to preventive strategies.  We also commended Minister Carey for his action on increasing access to social housing. We shared updates from the WELL Collaborative (Weight Education, Lifestyle Leadership) — a partnership focused on improving health outcomes and experiences for people impacted by overweight and obesity that HCC has been involved in since 2018.
  • Consumer leadership in major projects
    With Minister Carey – Minister for Health Infrastructure, a new portfolio – we discussed the success of having consumer leadership embedded in the Women and Babies Hospital project. This approach ensures that consumer perspectives are integrated early and meaningfully in major developments. We encouraged that this approach be considered for all major infrastructure activities. We heard that work is underway to streamline and standardise consultation processes on these activities and we will continue to advocate for consumer representatives at every stage – including before ideas are generated, as well as being consulted on outcomes.
  • Health Research and Consumer Involvement
    With Minister Dawson’s office, we advocated for continued consumer involvement in medical research planning, decision-making, and the communication of research outcomes. We discussed how bringing researchers, practitioners, and consumers together can accelerate the translation of research into the real-world applications that consumers are keen see.
  • Aged Care and Community Models
    In our conversation with Minister McGurk – Minister for Aged Care and Women – we emphasised the need for strong support for older people — whether staying well at home or transitioning to aged care. We also discussed the value of community connector models, which help people navigate complex systems. The Minister had a good knowledge of these as she’d been involved in helping to establish a similar model aimed at supporting children in out of home care access essential healthcare.

Looking ahead
These meetings were a great opportunity for us to ensure that the new ministerial team and their advisers understand the importance of health consumer perspectives and how they can help to cut through the vested interests that exist in healthcare. It’s clear that WA’s new ministerial team values the voices of health consumers and is keen to hear about the real-world experiences of those accessing – or trying to access – care.

We look forward to building on these strong foundations to ensure that consumer perspectives remain central in shaping health policies and services.

Clare Mullen, Executive Director

High Specialist Fees: The Grattan Institute Report has identified some interesting solutions.

Posted on June 30, 2025

HCCWA welcomes the recent report “Special Treatment: Improving Australians’ access to specialist care” from the Grattan Institute into the cost of specialist appointments.

“The cost of specialist care is a problem for many people, across all areas of health.” according to Clare Mullen, the Health Consumers’ Council WA’s Executive Director in regards to the Grattan Institute‘s report about expensive specialist doctor fees.

“It’s really tough for people to have to make the choice between going on to a public wait list and with no information about how long they might be on that wait list, or trying to find the money to pay for care privately if they do have private health,” she stated in her interview with Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC News Perth Mornings.

Our Health Advocate Team, who are on the front line of our specialised one-on-one advocacy service, know this all too well; we hear regularly about the prohibitive cost of specialists from people across WA. As Clare Mullen points out in this interview; the emotional and vulnerable nature of healthcare decisions make it crucial for consumers to have trustworthy information. “It’s important that consumers are given access to the information that they can trust to make informed decisions and let’s make healthcare a bit fairer for everyone.”

Health Consumers’ Council WA offer the ONLY free individual health advocacy service in Australia.

Listen to the interview starting at 51:45 here.

Our hybrid health system means that consumers can find themselves caught between choosing to attend an appointment with a private practitioner or waiting for an outpatient appointment in the public system. The lack of transparency around waiting times for public appointments does see people choose to see a private practitioner, but as this report highlights, the cost of these appointments can be well outside the reach of many consumers with one extreme example of an appointment that left a consumer with an out of pocket cost of over $600.

Ideally the health system would have sufficient staff and funding to mean that the toss up between high costs and long waits would not occur .  We are encouraged by the recommendations of the report to identify and train specialists in the fields that are most in need, and also to invest in public clinics in areas where they are most needed.

It is also interesting to note that the report has identified that the current system makes it challenging for GPs to receive advice from specialists about managing specific patients, which therefore leads to a larger than required number of referrals being made to those specialists. The report recommends a secondary consultation system which would reduce referrals to specialists and reduce patient expense and stress at navigating the complexities of the health system. It also has the undeniable benefit of reducing pressure on the specialist system, freeing up time for more patients to be seen. It is these kinds of radically different approaches to the provision of health services that we need to ensure our health system can evolve to manage a growing and aging . Before the state election in March this year the WA Labor government promised a pilot program called “GP Ask” to trial a secondary consultation model, and we look forward to the results of this pilot.

The report refers to the Commonwealth Government’s Medical Costs Finder website which provides some helpful information about how much people can expect to pay for certain procedures. Sadly, very few doctors have voluntarily provided their fees for this website, but the Government has committed to using Medicare data to upgrade the website to give a more accurate picture of the costs a patient can anticipate if undertaking their care in the private system.

The Grattan Institute goes further though and suggests that the government legislate to claw back some extreme fees charged by practitioners. We would be interested to see how this might look and we continue to monitor this situation with great interest.

Bronwyn Ife  |  Systemic Advocacy and Engagement Lead
For media enquiries: 0488 701 839

2025-26 Budget “The No Surprises Budget”

Posted on June 20, 2025

The State Budget was handed down on 19 June and HCCWA was pleased to be invited to the industry budget briefing and lock in.

Reading the budget documents, it was great to see all health-related election commitments being funded, as these included some important infrastructure promises and some interesting and innovative programs. We are looking forward to the implementation of the GP ASK program, which should reduce unnecessary referrals to specialists, which in turn reduces waiting times for patients. We are also interested to see the WA Virtual Emergency Department expanded and serving more community members. Great preventative programs such as funding for Ngala and the Australian Breastfeeding Association are also welcomed.

Other health items included:

  • Improvements to nurse to patient ratios
  • Expanding the pharmacist scope of practice to allow greater choice for consumers for access to care for some uncomplicated health conditions
  • Additional beds in the Time to Think program, accommodating hospital patients who are waiting for an aged care placement
  • Funding to develop the Perth Biomedical manufacturing hub to help grow the local medical research industry
  • Funding for the first Dementia Action Plan
  • Funding for a Medical Respite Centre for continuing care people experiencing homelessness who need access to the hospital system.

Spending on healthcare for people in regional areas is vital and we welcome the increases to the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme, as well as infrastructure investment in health services in Bunbury, Albany, Geraldton, Kalbarri and Kalgoorlie. Expansion of renal dialysis in Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing is also a great step in providing crucial health care close to where people live.

While spending on infrastructure is crucial, there is a wider picture in the health system that needs to be examined. We were hoping to see investment in radically different models of care, as recommended by the Sustainable Health Review. Community Connector and Social Prescribing models are proving to be hugely important at providing services to community members where they live and in keeping people well, connected, and out of hospital. While Silver Chain programs are funded in this budget, there is nothing for new and innovative community connector programs that will be essential in the future of our health system.

While we welcome many cost of living initiatives, such as free public transport to school, we were disappointed that there was nothing in the budget to help WA health consumers and their carers with the high cost of parking at hospitals. Our hospitals are free, but accessing them is not free, we’ve heard from people who have had to take out pay day loans to cover the cost of hospital parking. Subsidising hospital parking would be an excellent initiative to assist people with the escalating cost of living and provide relief for people who are experiencing the acute stress of a sick, hospitalised family member.

Bronwyn Ife  |  Systemic Advocacy and Engagement Lead
For media enquiries: 0488 701 839

Meet your HCCWA Team: Jenni Dlugi

Posted on June 13, 2025

Our team works hard for the people of WA, we’re passionate about making a difference in the lives of West Aussies and working hard to make patients, carers, loved ones – all health consumers – are at the centre of our healthcare system to make healthcare fair.

We’d like you to meet Jenni, our Senior Information and Advocacy Officer.

How long have you worked at HCCWA

7 years

What inspired you to work at HCCWA?

I had a background in medico-legal work – I had previously worked in a health service, then I had worked for a major medical indemnity insurer. When I returned from maternity leave, I had made a choice to balance my home and work life and moved into the community services sector in the regions. I worked for Victim Support Service, Housing Support, DV program coordination and paralegal work. When I returned to Perth after living in Albany, Karratha and Kalgoorlie, I specifically looked for a role that aligned with my beliefs and values, but that also utilised my background in medico-legal work and challenging social injustices and inequity. I felt Health Consumers’ Council fit the criteria. Luckily, the feeling was mutual and I got the job!

Describe what you do at HCCWA

I am an Individual Advocate and my job is to advocate for consumers of the WA health system to ensure their rights are upheld under the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights, that their voices are heard, and that any barriers or inequities are addressed. Sometimes that might involve ‘nudging’ a clinician or health service in the right direction by reminding them about person centred care and their obligations. I also help people to feel empowered to advocate for themselves by providing advice about their particular circumstances, together with information, resources, system navigation and referrals.

What do you think about HCCWA and the work we do?

I think it’s great. It’s an important role given there are no other services offering free individual advocacy services for the entire WA health system. That includes issues with allied health, pharmacy, and dental – it’s not only hospitals and primary care! I have had consumers from Eastern States call us for support because other states’ health consumer organisations don’t offer individual advocacy. Unfortunately, those consumers only option is paying a private operator for support. Our service is pretty special and unique.

How do you see your work helping to improve outcomes and experiences for everyone in WA?

I see my work as an individual advocate as supporting people to understand what health care rights are and how to exercise those rights. My hope is that people come away from engaging with our service feeling more empowered and knowledgeable than they did before.

Ever met anyone famous?

Yes. Back in the 80s (the good old days) Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited Australia. They visited the region in Victoria that I lived in. All the primary schools around the districts converged on one location and I was selected from my school to present her with a bunch of flowers. I was around 5 or 6 years of age, and I remember she kissed me on the cheek! I did not realise how special that was until I was older.

Evelyn Le’s literature review to identify the barriers that are faced by LGBTQIA+SB people in accessing healthcare in Western Australia: intern from the McCusker Centre for Citzenship at UWA

Posted on June 12, 2025

At HCCWA we regularly host interns from the McCusker Centre for Citzenship at UWA because we believe in helping to educate future leaders, as well as having the opportunity to get input on projects we’re keen to make happen and wouldn’t otherwise be able to Students who choose the McCusker Internship as an elective in for one semester are placed with an organisation where they undertake 100 hours of supervised project work.

Evelyn Le joined us in semester one. She is undertaking a major in Biomedical Science (Pharmacology) with a minor in French, so her time spent at HCCWA was a new opportunity for her to think about a different type of work and a different way of undertaking research.

Evelyn undertook a literature review to identify the barriers that are faced by LGBTQIA+SB people in accessing healthcare in Western Australia, and further to identify what resources exist to assist members of the LGBTQIA+SB community to navigate the health system and be aware of their health rights. We developed this project brief after our Executive Director was invited to attend the Youth Pride Network Queeries event last year and heard from participants how challenging many people in the LGBTQIA+SB community found it to find welcoming safe healthcare.

Evelyn presented her findings to all staff at the end of her internship, and included:

  • That the LGBTQIA+SB community have higher rates of some mental illnesses than other people
  • That often young members of the LGBTQIA+SB community find themselves having to educate their medical practitioners
  • That gender diverse people find healthcare particularly challenging when being faced with health procedures that they associate with a different gender – such as cervical screening tests.
  • That young gender diverse people feel unsupported by healthcare workers if they do not address them using their preferred name, pronouns and gender.
  • That there is a strong intersectionality issue around young LGTBQIA+SB people who are living in rural areas being able to access safe and supportive healthcare.

These findings helped Evelyn to identify gaps in resources for LGBTQIA+SB people in accessing care. She found that while there are ample resources around for LGBTQIA+SB that relate to their specific health needs, there are not very many resources around their health rights and where to seek support for those rights. We’re looking to use Evelyn’s great research and advice to ensure that all community members are well informed of their health rights.

Our next steps are to reach out to LGBTQIA+SB peak bodies and explore how HCC can support their efforts to advocate for more inclusive accessible healthcare for the community.

Health services are under pressure around the world – here’s how you can help in WA

Posted on June 5, 2025

Right now, health services are under pressure around the world. In this LinkedIn post an ED doctor in the UK shares his perspectives on why people might be experiencing long waits in Emergency Departments.

Need healthcare that can’t wait?

If you’re seeking healthcare which is unplanned but is not an emergency or life-threatening – and it can’t wait until you can get an appointment with a GP – there are a few options that don’t require you to sit for a long time in an Emergency Department:

  • Call HealthDirect or visit the website for advice and information 24/7 – this service has been significantly improved in recent years and includes the option to discuss your symptoms with a registered nurse.

 

  • Visit an Urgent Care Centre
    • There are two types of Urgent Care Centres in WA
      • Medicare Urgent Care Centres are free at the point of care – you can find your nearest online at https://www.health.gov.au/find-a-medicare-ucc or by calling HealthDirect on 1800 022 222
        • You may be able to walk-in, or need to make an appointment – check with the centre closest to you
      • Other urgent care centres – such as those provided by St John Health – provide urgent care without an appointment with a fee to be paid.
        • You will need to pay up-front but Medicare Card holders will get a Medicare rebate.
        • The up-front costs can range from $168 Monday to Friday to $310 on public holidays
        • The out of pocket costs (after the rebate) range from approx $125 Monday to Friday to $175 on public holidays
        • You can find your nearest online at https://www.health.gov.au/find-a-medicare-ucc or by calling HealthDirect on 1800 022 222

 

 

  • Emergency or life-threatening illnesses or injuries require immediate medical attention by an emergency department or hospital. For example, things like chest pain, breathing difficulties, severe burns, poisoning, loss of feeling, and seizures.

If you do need to attend an Emergency Department, you can get an idea of how long you might be waiting from the WA Health website showing up to date wait times at https://www.health.wa.gov.au/reports-and-publications/emergency-department-activity/data?report=ed_activity_now

Other ways you can play your part in reducing the need for hospital care

 

  • Maintain good health hygiene habits
    • if you’re unwell, reduce the chance of infecting others by staying home, wearing a mask if out in public, and wash your hands regularly
      • and in particular, take action to reduce the chance of infecting older people in your community or family
    • pay attention to air quality in homes and buildings

HCC’s advocacy in this area

At HCCWA we are actively advocating for the interests of health consumers including patients, carers and family members in relation to ensure affordable access to healthcare across primary, community and hospital settings. This includes providing input on the WA Government’s work in relation to virtual care, care for older people, and emergency access.

 

Executive Director update May 2025: the critical need for consumer voices

Posted on May 29, 2025

Navigating change: reflections on planning, learning, and the critical need for consumer voices

By Clare Mullen, Executive Director

May is a pivotal month in our calendar year at Health Consumers’ Council. It’s the time where we finalise our plans for the next financial year (which starts in July), which means also finalising our budgets. It’s always a challenge to match our ambition for the WA community and the health consumer community with the limited resources that we have available.

We have been fortunate in the last 12 months to have received some additional funding—small amounts of short-term additional funding from the Health Department and the Mental Health Commission. But our last opportunity for any significant change in our funding was in 2014 when the health system environment – and the scale of the issues faced by health consumers – were very different.

Despite these constraints, we’re excited about what we have planned for next year. We’re very much focused on building the data and the evidence that we need to make a strong case as we hope to negotiate future funding and demonstrate the impact of the work that we are doing. We’re also looking forward to rolling out the self-advocacy workshops and resources we’ve been developing over the last few months – and thanks to those of you who worked with us on those.

Conference season: learning and sharing insights

May is also a busy time because there are lots of conferences that take place around now. I was fortunate to have been invited to put forward consumer interests in several important forums.

Primary Health Alliance Conference, Melbourne

First up, I attended the Primary Health Alliance Conference in Melbourne, where there were many conversations about how to make primary care more accessible and affordable to more people in the community. And in particular, how to enable more people to be able to access multidisciplinary care in a GP practice. I came away from that event thinking about our role in helping to build consumer and community understanding of some of the funding reforms that are needed. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next with that.

Australian Centre For Value Based Healthcare Congress

Next, I had the chance to facilitate a panel discussion at the Australian Centre For Value Based Healthcare Conference, where we heard from one example of a co-design project that one of the consumer participants described as the best co-design project she had ever been involved with!

We also heard from New South Wales Health, where I learned about some of the data they’ve collected through their patient reported experience measures (PREMs) and patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). This has demonstrated the link that if you get the experience right for people, that can impact positively on the outcomes for people, which also impacts positively on the cost of care. This is really the essence of value-based healthcare: improving experiences, improving outcomes, and improving value for money.

You can read about some of the NSW work – including the link between dissatisfaction with food and health outcomes – here: https://www.bhi.nsw.gov.au/About_BHI/Blog/growing-evidence-on-the-link-between-patients-experiences-and-outcomes

A group shot of 5 women in front of a pull up banner

L-R: Alison Coughlan Health Consumers Centre Vic; Anne-Marie Liddy, Chair, Health Consumers Qld; Clare Mullen, HCCWA; Susannah Morris, Consumer Leader from WA; Jessica Lamb and Kathryn Briant from Health Care Consumers Association ACT

It was also a great opportunity to connect with other consumer advocates and leaders including colleagues from Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.

At Health Consumers’ Council, we’ll be doing more work on value-based healthcare because it’s a really important concept for people who are involved as consumer representatives  – particularly those at executive level and above. It’s one of the ways that we can use the work that’s being done on PROMs and PREMs in Western Australia to drive better experiences and better outcomes.

Thank you to the Australian Centre for Value-Based Healthcare for funding my travel and accommodation to enable me to participate in this and the primary care event.

Ageing Australia Conference

This week, I was invited to be part of a panel at the Ageing Australia Conference in Perth. Many of you will know that the aged care sector is going through significant reform with the implementation of the new Aged Care Act, with elements of that coming into play from 1st July 2025.

The new Aged Care Act is being billed as a rights-based act and so I highlighted the importance of making sure that, in a rights-based context, attention is paid to addressing the power imbalance that can exist between service providers and the people who use their services. This includes issues of equity and making sure that in the hurry to implement things by a certain timeframe, the needs of people who may not come from the dominant paradigm are also considered. I also highlighted the importance of independent advocacy and information from organisations who have the interest of consumers, residents, and clients at heart, including our partners at Advocare and COTA WA.

You can read more about the panel discussion in this LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ageingaustralia_the-transition-to-the-new-aged-care-act-panel-activity-7332769192443580416-Hvrl

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards – towards the next edition

The first edition of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards was launched with the second edition coming in 2021. To inform the third edition the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care hosted a meeting with the state/territory and national consumer peak organisations this month. It was a wide ranging discussion covering the whole spectrum of issues consumers face. In particular, I raised the issue of strengthening the standards to address racism in healthcare, as well as ensuring that the standards account for people’s experience as they transfer between different elements of the system.

A group image with 12 people in the room and one person on the screen.

L-R: Alison Coughlan, Vic Health Consumers Centre; Kate Gorman, Health Care Consumers Assn ACT; Clare Mullen, HCCWA; on screen Ellen MacDonald, Health Consumers Tasmania; Anna Flynn, Director Partnering with Consumers, ACSQHC; Naomi Poole, Naomi Poole, Executive Director Strategy and Innovation, ACSQHC; Elizabeth Deveny, CHF; seated Broni Smith, Program Manager, Partnering with Consumers, ACSQHC; Anthony Brown, Health Consumers NSW; Anna Thornton, Chief Nursing Officer, ACSQHC; Gillian Giles, Director Clinical Governance, ACSQHC; Joanne Taylor, Program Manager Comprehensive Care; Keith Tracey-Patte, Health Consumers Queensland

 

A system in transformation

There are changes happening in primary care, in hospital care, and in private care. At the same time, as I’ve said there is significant change happening in the disability sector as well as the aged care sector.

There are many wonderful people working in health services, in aged care and in disability services, and many of them very much have the interest of consumers in mind. But no one experiences the system as a whole other than the consumers who are trying to navigate the complexity of those various systems and how they interact – or don’t!

Never has it been more important that there are confident, connected, informed consumer representatives who are able and feel supported to speak up for the rights of consumers, carers, community members, and people with lived experience, in every room where ideas are being discussed, and decisions are being made that impact on the experiences and outcomes that people will have.

A Call to Action

If you have been thinking about whether or not you might want to draw on your lived experience or become involved as a consumer representative, I urge you to think about it now. Now is the time.

It is imperative that we have strong, confident people in the community who are coming from an informed and supportive consumer movement —where people draw on their own experience and can also put forward a broad consumer perspective. We need to be in every room where discussions are happening.

Systemic advocacy: protecting consumer rights

Consumer rights in dental care

This month has also been very busy on the systemic advocacy front. Some of you have seen the news items from The West Australian about consumers who have been left out of pocket and without dental care: https://thewest.com.au/news/health/patients-of-perth-dental-rooms-dentist-david-hurst-left-in-financial-limbo-and-pain-after-practice-collapses-c-18454547

Unfortunately, what the stories have highlighted is that there are many gaps in the system that is supposed to protect us as we access dental care. Many people are facing aggressive marketing tactics from dental companies who are encouraging people to access their superannuation in order to have dental treatment. It’s not clear whether or not people understand all of the implications of that, both for their future financial security but also for the day-to-day reality—for example, having to pay tax on super accessed early.

I will be meeting with WA’s Chief Dental Officer and the head of the Australian Dental Board next week to discuss this, and we’ll be putting forward our concerns to make sure that the loopholes that seem to be undermine the rights that patients and consumers have are closed. We want to ensure that consumers can be making informed choices in the confidence that the system that is there to protect them is working as it should.

We have a survey for people who might want to share their stories, and you can find that here: https://forms.office.com/r/WttmCBkJUd

Hospital Parking: A Barrier to Care

On another front, we had the opportunity to take part in an ABC Life Matters conversation this month talking about the impact of the high cost of parking at some public hospitals. We heard about the economic argument that there is evidence showing that if family and friends are able to spend time with their loved ones while in hospital, this can help the healing process and in some cases help people get home sooner.

In Western Australia, we put a call out to our networks to understand the impact of hospital parking costs, and we know that today, right now, there are people taking out payday loans in order to access essential healthcare, including attending emergency departments.

There have been many attempts in the past to raise the issue of parking costs, and to date, those have been largely unsuccessful. There are some concessions that are available, and you can see what we have been able to find out about those on our website. But by and large, the cost of hospital parking is still a barrier to care for many people.

The reason that we are taking up this issue again is that having spent a state election period hearing about how we are the state with the strongest economy in Australia we think that the stark contrast between that and the reality of people trying to access healthcare is really quite stark.

We’ve raised this already with the new health ministerial team, and we also reiterated it in our budget paper that we submitted to the ministers last week. Again, we have a survey inviting people to share information about their parking experiences. We won’t share any details that identify anyone, but as we know, lived experience stories can change minds and hearts. So please, if you have a story to share, please do—here’s the link: https://forms.office.com/r/NFq9WhFcKM

Advocacy in Action: Meeting Growing Community Need

Finally, we have been very busy in both our engagement team and our individual advocacy team. What we identified is that in January to March 2025, compared to January to March 2024, our individual advocacy team saw an increase in the number of priority cases that far exceeded 500 percent—more than a five-fold increase in the number of priority cases.

Every case is important, but for example, if you are in hospital right now and reaching out to an independent advocate might be able to help you in that particular situation, then we will do our best to support that person as quickly as possible.

As Health Consumers’ Council is the only state-based consumer organisation in Australia that provides independent individual health advocacy across the whole range of health issues—mental health, physical health, primary care, hospital care, private healthcare, and public healthcare (the only area that we don’t cover is involuntary mental health)—this increase is significant.

What is curious to me is why health advocacy is so poorly resourced compared to advocacy in the disability sector and advocacy in the aged care sector. Advocacy is much needed in any sector where public services, just by the way they exist, are difficult for people to navigate. You need people who understand those systems to walk alongside you and support you as you stand up for and defend your rights and seek redress when things have gone wrong.

A big piece of our advocacy is continuing to advocate for more access for the community to independent health advocacy across all areas of health.

Engagement and Innovation

In our engagement team, we have had a whole range of events take place this month. We gathered together consumer representatives from across the healthcare system to understand how Care Opinion is being used in their health service and what opportunities they saw as consumer reps for using it differently. We have a few ideas that have emerged from that, so watch this space. We’ll be hosting another conversation with that same group alongside the staff who work on Care Opinion later in the year.

This is thanks to a small amount of funding that we got from the Health Department to progress work in relation to Sustainable Health Review Recommendation 4, which relates to the objective of expanding the use of Care Opinion.

The other exciting news is that we are making progress to support the Health Department as they implement their safety and quality strategy. One of the strands in that work is looking at consumer leadership, and so we are initiating that work by hearing from consumers about their experience of consumer leadership. What does it mean to you? What can make it work really well, and what can get in the way of it? Again, we have a survey for that: https://forms.office.com/r/gjNuHJuNUy

Looking forward

If you’re still reading, then you’ll know it’s been a busy time. There are lots of opportunities for people to influence change in the system. If you have ideas for areas that we’re not across, we are a small team, but we will add it to the list of things and do what we can to support you in the community to make change for the good of health consumers, families, carers, and people with lived experience in the community.

Thank you to those of you who go above and beyond, who speak up, who draw on your own lived experience and your knowledge of the healthcare system to advocate for positive change. Never has it been more needed for us to have strong independent consumer partners to work alongside those change agents in the health system to bring about a transformed health and medical care system for the WA community.