
As consumers, we hold the power to shape our health journey collectively; informed choices lead to better wellbeing and a community that advocates for transparency, quality, and trust.
What does partnering with consumers mean?
In health care, partnering with consumers is more than a nice to have, it is a recognised right (Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights | Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care) and it is embedded within the standards for accessible, safe and quality care (for example Partnering with Consumers Standard | Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care).
Engaging with consumers in authentic partnerships, listening to and implementing their feedback can transform the consumer experience in the healthcare system. It may change the clinical care they receive, the services they engage with, how they think and feel about their health and improve outcomes. We want to do that- on a broad scale, across the healthcare system, for all people accessing healthcare.
Who are healthcare consumers?
Healthcare consumers are people who engage with healthcare systems to manage their health and well-being. Consumers can be patients, carers, families, community groups, consumer organisations or consumer representatives (see below). Nearly everyone uses healthcare services at some point, and therefore, most of us are healthcare consumers.
Consumer representatives use their lived experience of a health issue or the health system to advocate for the broader consumer community. They might be take part in consultations, or be part of committees, advisory groups, collaborations or governance structures. A consumer representative role can include:
Voicing consumer concerns and perspectives
Identifying gaps in service delivery
Contributing to the design, development, and evaluation of health services
Ensuring services are person-centred, safe, and equitable
Importantly, consumer representatives must not be current employees of the health service, organisation or agency to avoid conflicts of interest
When should we partner with consumers in health care
Individual and direct care level: If you've ever engaged in person centered care or came to a shared decision with your patient, that's consumer engagement on an individual level.
Service level: Elevating the voice, and engaging in partnerships with consumer representatives to inform design, delivery and evaluation of health care services and care. How do consumers and their lived experience inform or influence decisions about improving the quality and outcomes of a service?
Systems level: How does lived experience and the voice of consumers inform, participate in and influence development, implementation and evaluation of policies and health service governance? Advocacy and system improvement
How to partner and engage with consumers well?
There are many ways to partner with consumers well. This is just a short summary of some important considerations, skills and approaches to help you get started.
Understand the skills and mindsets needed to partner well
Communicate well: Who are you communicating with and is what you are communicating timely, accurate and explained in a way that is understood?
Engage meaningfully:
Relationships are at the heart of partnering and engaging well, approach partnering with consumers with the respect and authenticity normally expected to maintain a good relationship.
When establishing groups or committees – avoid recruiting one consumer representative and use the "rule of 3" as a guide:
1 consumer is tokenistic representation – partnering isn't a box ticking exercise
2 consumers are an improvement but consider the balance of power and others represented in the group
3 consumers starts to level the playing field for meaningful engagement.
Be conscious of the many influences of privilege and power dynamics, AND, the steps that you can take to create a more equitable partnership
Ask – don't forget one of the keys to partnering is to question assumptions you might have about the needs, preferences and interests of others. Ask people what they need, how they want to communicate and what their preferences and values might be.
Demonstrate value of lived experience: How will you demonstrate you value the expertise being shared and the time and effort it takes to do this? CHF advocates that when consumers are engaged to inform the design, delivery and evaluation of services, policies, programs and research that they be paid for their time.
Understand and be authentic about the level of partnering you are doing
International Association for Public Participation's Spectrum of Public Participation (IAP2) is a handy guide to understand what level of partnering you currently do, and what is needed to improve the depth and approach to meaningful partnership. The higher up the spectrum you work, reflects the increasing influence and involvement in decision making the consumers you partner and work with have.

Be conscious and proactive to how inclusive you are
Adopt the principle of "Nothing about us without us" - who is most affected by the care being provided and who should be involved in its design, delivery and evaluation.
Though everyone can be considered a health care consumer it's important that we don't just engage with people who are easy to reach. Don't wait for people to come to you, think creatively about how you can better connect with those you need to engage.
Seek out diverse views, experiences and expertise by engaging with different groups in the population. This can help uncover issues in the system that don't affect everyone, but may disproportionately effect some eg. First Nations People, LGBTQIA+ people, women etc.
Evaluate the quality and impact of partnering with consumers
Ask when and how consumer voices and experience have influenced change?
Ask consumers how they evaluate the approach, level and impact of partnering with consumers at each level (direct care, service level and system level).
What is NOT partnering with consumers?
Partnering and engagement with consumers is about establishing and maintaining trusted relationships. It is more than a simple task on a checklist. It is good to remember that true consumer engagement and partnering is not:
One way communication (only informing or telling the consumers information or instructions, but not learning from them or listening to them in any meaningful way)
Tokenistic (seeking agreement or consent for pre-determined decisions)
Only completed with easy to reach people (health services must reach the entire population)
Only uses the same few voices to represent the entire community (health services need to engage with people from a variety of backgrounds, with varied opinions and ideas)
A one and done process (must be an ongoing process that engages people in multiple ways at multiple different times)
Asking a consumer to share a story without consent, or follow up with them on how the story has influenced change, or without consideration of the impact sharing that story may have on the consumer.
Where can I learn more about how to partner with consumers?
ACSQHC:
National Consumer Engagement Strategy for Health Wellbeing (NCESHW)
SCV Quality and Safety Capability Framework – Partnering with consumers capability domain Victorian Quality and Safety Capability Framework | Safer Care Victoria [I'd like to include this as it is one of the only things that actually maps out skills for health professionals in partnering with consumers across a range of roles/responsibilities in the health system]
Identify and reach out to learn from and work with champions of health consumer partnerships and co-design
Sign up to the CHF Consumer Voices newsletter [link/ button]
Contact us – for training, resources and coaching to improve the impact and way consumer partnerships are used to improve the inclusivity, accessibility, affordability and quality of care.