Sharing Insights & Learnings

1. CONSUMER AND COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT FORUM
SHARING INSIGHTS AND LEARNINGS
WentWest: Western Sydney Primary Health Network
www.wentwest.com.au

2. 1. What are we trying to achieve
1.
2.
3.
As a system
As a PHN
In partnership
2. Development of “toolkit”
3. Observations
www.wentwest.com.au
Consumer engagement forum

3. Integrated care – an alignment
Care, which imposes the patient’s as the
organising principle of service delivery and
makes redundant old supply-driven models of
care provision. Integrated care enables health
and social care provision that is flexible,
personalised, and seamless
(Lloyd & Wait 2005)
The structure of achieving this should ideally reflect strategy and
be based on the principle of equity; an integrated health system
should be for all not just some

4. 1stPrimary health – effective contact
Health systems with strong primary health care
are more efficient, have lower rates of
hospitalisation, fewer health inequalities and
better health outcomes including lower
mortality, than those that do not
(WHO 2008)
A strong primary health care system should mean that we are able to
care for people appropriately. This means primary health care teams
working effectively on behalf of their clients, patients and families

5. Meeting the challenges means
changing the trajectory
• …if left to their own devices, health systems do
not gravitate naturally towards the goals of health
all through primary health care ...
for
• …if left to
develop in
and social
their own devices, health systems
directions that contribute little to equity
justice and fail to get the best health
outcomes for their money
(WHO 2008 p15)

6. Brand new roles
•
•
•
•
•
Team member (sometimes,
Specialist for my panel
team leader)
Innovator, improver, systems-thinker
Partner to my patients in their health
Educator for frontline staff on my team,
for medical trainees
as well as
How do we define good quality general practice and the roles that
support it

7. 1. What are we trying to achieve
1.
2.
3.
As a system
As a PHN
In partnership
2. Development of “toolkit”
3. Observations
www.wentwest.com.au
Consumer engagement forum

9. PHNs – Improving a community voice
Dept of Health on Community Advisory Committees:




Will report to the PHN Board and collaborate with Clinical Councils
Ensure local accountability and relevance of PHN activities
Promote patient centred decision making and needs identification
Representation reflects the diversity and needs of the local
population
Alignment with Clinical Councils to be determined by PHNs, based
on regional needs
PHN Boards are accountable for the overall performance of each
PHN including responsibility to oversee the development and
implementation of a consumer and community engagement
strategy.



10. Challenge of engaging effectively

11. PHN engagement objectives
The question of how the PHN role can assist in
achieving better outcomes for consumers and the
community through:
• A more transparent health and human services system
for consumers, their families and carers.
• The ability to begin to actively engage as partners with
clinicians in their healthcare.
• Empowerment of local communities so they can have a
greater say and influence in the planning, design, delivery
of healthcare
• Feedback from evaluation of health services, as a basis
for continuous improvement of the healthcare system.

12. 1. What are we trying to achieve
1.
2.
3.
As a system
As a PHN
In partnership
2. Development of “toolkit”
3. Observations
www.wentwest.com.au
Consumer engagement forum

13. www.wentwest.com.au
Optimising the solution for consumers
will mean disregarding boundaries

14. Shaping partnerships/collaborations
• Core capabilities in developing synergies:
≡
≡
≡
Negotiating and advocating for primary care
Commissioning and brokering
Investing in innovative solutions
• Leveraging off regional and functional
others
expertise of
• Addressing health inequities
• Understanding outcomes and measuring change
• Integrating the role of teaching, training, research
and evaluation

15. Investments influenced by
community engagement
• Leading better integration of care –patient centred care
≡ Keeping people well and out of hospital
•
•
Assess, understand and systematically document needs
Consciousness about diversity and how to “reach into”
communities
≡ Population and sub population health
• Respond to identified health inequalities and the social
determinants of health
• Assess changes/outcomes at local levels

16. Community and consumer
engagement process
Top
down
Groun
d
up
•
•
Known health needs
Improving existing
services
• Understanding what
will better meet
needs
Indentify and fill gaps•

17. A model for community and
consumer engagement

18. 1. What are we trying to achieve
1.
2.
3.
As a system
As a PHN
In partnership
2. Development of “toolkit”
3. Observations
www.wentwest.com.au
Consumer engagement forum

19. Partnerships
WentWest in partnership with
Health Consumers New South Wales (HCNSW)
has produced
Developing a consumer and community
engagement strategy: toolkit (the Toolkit)
to support the development of effective consumer
and community engagement strategies by Primary
Care Organisations and services.

20. A toolkit
• The Toolkit is a companion document to the WW Consumer and Community
Engagement Framework (the Framework).
• Supports the practical application of WW Framework and contains
information, tools and tip sheets to support the stages and steps
organisations may undertake to develop effective engagement strategies.
• Recognising that there is no one size fits all approach, the Toolkit and
Framework promote collaborative and integrated approaches to engagement
by Primary Care with consumers, clinicians and the community.
• Assists organisations to work towards more seamless and efficient
healthcare delivery with Primary Health Care Networks, local councils, state
and Commonwealth departments, and health and community sector
organisations.

21. Consumer and Community - Engagement
• The Toolkit supports the development of strategies tailored to meet the
purpose of the engagement, and the needs of the consumers and
communities within the local area.
• While it has been developed to specifically support WSPHN, the Toolkit
also has application across public and private health service
organisations delivering health promotion, prevention, primary, acute,
subacute and community health services.
• The Toolkit outlines four stages – scope, plan, engage and review, and
steps in developing an effective consumer and community engagement
strategy.
• The Toolkit can be used to review current consumer and community
engagement initiatives, so that organisations can build upon what is
working well and identify gaps and opportunities for engagement at the
individual, service, network and system levels.

22. Engagement Framework

23. 1. What are we trying to achieve
1.
2.
3.
As a system
As a PHN
In partnership
2. Development of “toolkit”
3. Observations
www.wentwest.com.au
Consumer engagement forum

24. Consumer & Ccommunity engagement
journey
When commencing strategy development,
some overarching issues to consider include:
•
•
•
•
organisational strategy
governance and leadership
capacity and resources
communication with the PHN
external stakeholders
workforce and
• accountability and transparency

25. Consumer & Ccommunity engagement
journey
At the operational level, consideration should be given to:
• the involvement and engagement of consumers and the community
throughout the four stages of strategy development.
• how to facilitate consumer and community-driven engagement that is
embedded in organisational culture and practice in an ongoing way.
• opportunities to work in partnership with on shared consumer and
community engagement mechanisms and approaches.
• opportunities for partnerships with consumer and community
organisations, and other government agencies with common client
groups.
For example:
≡
≡
≡
Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services
Local Government authorities private hospitals
community service networks.

26. Key learnings
1. Define your purpose and objectives
Scoping the purpose and objectives with reference to legislation,
regulation, reporting frameworks, and strategic and operational
planning will provide you with clear direction on how the
consumer and community engagement strategy will contribute to
improved health services and outcomes.
2. Understand local consumer and community profile
Understanding who your consumers and communities are,
including those who experience barriers accessing services
within the local area to allow identification to deliver more locally
responsive services that better meet patient needs.

27. Key learnings
3. Identify potential partners and stakeholders
Understanding the stakeholders who operate and deliver services
within your region is an important step. The mapping of groups,
organisations, services and networks can provide opportunities to
tap into the local connections and networks. This helps to identify
engagement activities and uncovers community knowledge about
what already exists, what is working and what opportunities there
are to work in partnership with other organisations.
4. Map current engagement activities
It is important to have an understanding of current consumer and
community engagement activities in order to identify what is in
place, what is working well, gaps and opportunities to build upon
effective engagement mechanisms and activities.

28. Key learnings
5. Develop priorities
The following will assist you to integrate consumer and community
engagement priorities and direction with organisational priorities.
6. Identify mechanisms for engagement
Develop mechanisms for engagement which are responsive to
local needs and the local community. There is no one size fits
all approach and it is important that mechanisms are tailored
appropriately to engage engaging with the target group, the
degree of influence that consumers/community will have on
outcomes, and whether it is a one-off or ongoing initiative.

29. Key learnings
7. Develop outcome and performance measures
Ensure your Boards will work with Chief Executives and key staff
to develop strategic outcomes and performance measures for the
specific priorities and mechanisms that are included in your
consumer and community engagement strategy. Historically
engagement outcomes have been focused on measuring outputs
such as how many people were engaged and how much media
coverage was generated. While this information is important to
capture, the framework should also focus on measuring outcomes
based upon the effectiveness of the engagement.
8. Operational planning
You will need to operationalise the consumer and community
engagement strategy as part of business and/or service level
planning frameworks.

30. Key learnings
9. Implement
Identify and establish systems to record and capture information
on the implementation of the consumer and community
engagement at individual, service and operational levels, against
key performance indicators.
10. Monitor, review and evaluate
The Board, supported by the executive committee, oversees the
consumer and community engagement strategy (development,
implementation, monitoring and review). This also includes
addressing issues that arise in implementation.

31. Thank You
www.wentwest.com.au