HCCA advocates for a consumer-centred health care system that provides high quality, accessible health care for everyone in the ACT and surrounding region. Our goal is for the consumer voice to shape the health services we use.
We work closely with individuals, groups, service providers and government to ensure that we can all participate in positive systemic change and better outcomes through consumer participation and empowerment.
How do we do that?
Policy – HCCA develops policies, position statements and contributes to health policy discussions
Research – we conduct research into the consumer experience of health care and support consumer participation in research projects run by universities, health services or other community organisations
Health Literacy – we work to build the health literacy skills of consumers, health professionals and services. Health literacy is central to informed and empowered consumers getting the best quality health care that meets their individual needs and preferences.
Information for consumers – we provide training, information sessions and resources to help you better manage your health and get high quality health care.
Training for health and community service professionals – we provide training and information to build the skills of staff in the areas of health literacy, communication and consumer participation.
Supporting services to engage with consumers effectively and collaboratively – we help organisations to work with consumer representatives and conduct genuine consumer consultation to help improve service delivery.
Supporting consumers – to participate and provide effective consumer input in a range of different ways and settings. We currently support consumer representatives on over 100 committees and reference groups.
Consumer and Member Input
HCCA is a member organisation and exists to represent the views and priorities of our members. We involve our members, member organisations, and the broader community in our work in a number of ways:
- Advisory Groups
- Consultations and Forums
- Invitations to comment
Advisory Committees
Health Policy and Research Advisory Committee
The Health Policy and Research Advisory Committee:
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- provides oversight and advice to HCCA policy submissions and HCCA position statements
- evaluates the quality of our policy work
Consumer Participation Committee
The Consumer Participation Committee:
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- provides guidance for our consumer and community participation work
- development, implementation and evaluation of the HCCA Consumer and Community Participation Framework
- evaluates the quality of our consumer participation work
Consumer Reference Groups
Consumer Reference Groups inform HCCA’s position on health policy and identify issues of importance to consumers.
These groups help to make health strategies and policies consumer driven and ensure they reflect the priorities of consumers.
HCCA has Consumer Reference Groups in several areas that interest our members and networks.
- Health of Older People
- Quality and Safety
- Maternity Services
HCCA Consumer Reference Groups (CRGs) bring together members, consumer representatives and other stakeholders to inform the ACT Government, the Capital Health Network, and health services about the needs of specific consumer groups in the ACT. These groups are open to anyone to join!
Member Forums
We regularly hold members forums to provide information to our members on current issues and to hear from our members about the issues that are important to them.
Public consultations and workshops
For some issues we facilitate workshops or public consultations. This helps ensure we understand the view of health consumers and we use these views in our policy work and to guide our work in advocating for systemic change and to achieve better outcomes for consumers.