Resources

Where do we start to increase consumer satisfaction in a seemingly endless sea of consumer touchpoints? Sometimes we put a lot of time and effort into improving things with little satisfaction or ‘bang for buck’. Sometimes we focus on what we think the problems are from our interpretation of feedback data – which may or may not reap satisfaction benefits. There are also confounding factors such as consumer age and health status that can confuse and tilt results.

Partnering with consumers in the planning, delivery and evaluation of health services is an essential component of person-centred care. There are many ways to partner with consumers to improve health services, including formal group partnerships (such as committees, boards or steering groups). However, consumer and health providers' views and experiences of formal group partnerships remain unclear. In this qualitative evidence synthesis of 33 studies, the authors focus specifically on formal group partnerships where health providers and consumers share decision-making about planning, delivering and/or evaluating health services, looking at the pros and cons and what supports success.

The critical importance of complaint handling is as strong as ever. Being able to raise a grievance or complaint is a fundamental human right. Engaging effectively and respectfully with complaints is about engaging effectively and respectfully with the community and being willing to improve the quality of care.

Compassionate care is central to person-centred care. Along with the safety and cost reductions associated with person-centred care, placing the person at the centre of their care and keeping them informed is the right thing to do.

This Guide is a reference tool to support practitioners in understanding the complex ethical and legal requirements surrounding informed decision-making about healthcare.

Consumer involvement in our care organisations ensures a measurable increase in knowledge and skill, enhances problem-solving, introduces new ways of looking at and doing things; and ultimately gives organisations greater adaptability in a changing environment.

The Experience-Based Co-Design Toolkit provides a convenient reference to equip those working in the health sector with the tools and approaches to bring consumers and health workers together in an authentic and equal partnership to co-design care to deliver an improved experience.

We know that compassion and alleviating pain and symptoms generally feature high on consumers’ wish lists. But do healthcare providers feel that the latter is more useful than the former?

We think of consumer safety primarily in terms of physical harm. But consumers often conceptualise safety as ‘feeling safe’, as well as ‘being safe’.  

Violating a consumer’s emotional safety while avoiding physical harm is not yet embedded in consumer safety reporting. We know that consumers can experience emotionally harmful experiences as they navigate health services, such as: disregard for their opinion, not being listened to, rudeness and abuse. Are we doing consumers and families a disservice by ignoring or denying harm that doesn’t fit our organisational definition?