The team has been busy gathering and sharing consumer perspectives to influence national decision making:
National safety and quality health service standards
The HCCWA submission to the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care included the opportunity to ensure the role of consumer leaders is strengthened, as well as the role that standards have in ensuring healthcare is culturally safe and free of discrimination and bias. The submission was informed by workshops with health consumers, consumer representatives and leaders, and the HCCWA individual advocacy team.
Read the submission: https://www.hconc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/260925_HCCWA-3rd-Edition-Submission-Final.pdf
Select Committee on Women’s Health
The HCCWA submission to the Federal Inquiry into women’s health featured case studies of two women’s health issues – harm from medical devices and healthcare options for women who have experienced Female Genital Mutilation. The submission called for investment into health consumer voices to ensure that findings from the Inquiry can be co-designed with the people who experience health and healthcare. The submission was informed by in-depth discussions with women impacted by these issues and from HCCWA’s individual advocacy data.
Read the submission: https://www.hconc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/260925_HCCWA-3rd-Edition-Submission-Final.pdf
Federal Inquiry into access to and affordability of medical specialists
The HCCWA submission to the Federal Inquiry into access to and affordability of medical specialists reiterated points in our earlier related submission on modernising referral pathways:
- that commercial interests should be made visible to consumers to enable fully informed decisions
- that better information should be made available to consumers and GPs at the point of referral
- that information about costs of procedures should include all costs and reduce the admin burden on consumers who have to speak to multiple services to understand their costs for the one treatment (i.e. surgeon *plus* hospital *plus* anaesthetist)
The submission was informed by HCCWA’s individual advocacy data and feedback from WA health consumers through a survey.
Read the submission: https://www.hconc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/260305-modernising-referral-pathways-response-as-submitted.pdf