The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare proposed a Sustainable Healthcare Module.
CHF believes that firmer action must be taken.
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare proposed a Sustainable Healthcare Module.
CHF believes that firmer action must be taken.
As the Commonwealth Government embarks on significant reforms to Australia’s complex health system, it has never been more crucial to work with the people who use and pay for our public health services. Research shows Australians care deeply about their health system and that their lived experience and ideas improve service planning and delivery, especially when change is occurring.
The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report highlighted the benefits of moving towards a consumer-driven health system and noted that the success of reforms will rely on engagement with consumers in the design and delivery of services.
As this important work begins, the Consumers Health Forum (CHF) stands ready to provide consumer insights to ensure meaningful, cost-effective change is achieved. However, further investment in CHF is required to do this.
CHF is the national peak organisation for healthcare consumers. CHF’s vision is for Australia to have a world class health and social care system centred on consumers and communities. To achieve this, CHF wants to see consumers included in all governance structures within the health system and in policy making processes, including the government’s Measuring What Matters initiative.
CHF strongly supports the government’s intention to improve its measurement of Australians’ wellbeing and quality of life, and its plan to use those indicators for future budgets and assessment of progress.
CHF uses a broad definition of health and has advocated across many of the policy areas that affect social determinants of health, especially income and people’s ability to avoid or transition out of poverty
CHF has lodged a submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport’s Inquiry into long COVID and repeated COVID infections.
Consumers told CHF about their lived experiences and the services that they need to get better. They told us that many primary health practitioners do not know how to diagnose or treat long COVID. At the same time, patients can wait many months for referral, and then many more months for treatment, at long COVID clinics. Often, too, treatments are outdated and can exacerbate, rather than relieve, their symptoms.
The submission argues that an effective response to long COVID requires:
The year 2021–22 was significant on several fronts, not just for CHF but the wider health sector. To the relief of everyone in Australia, and beyond, the Covid-19 pandemic began to subside in early 2022 although its impact will be felt for many years to come. In our 2021-22 Annual Report you can read about how CHF played an important role in voicing consumer concerns during the pandemic, as well as contributing to several key initiatives including the Australian Government’s Preventative Health Strategy 2021-2030
This submission responds to a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) public consultation about whether the current scheduling of paracetamol is appropriate considering available data on paracetamol poisoning, including intentional overdose, and associated hospitalisations and deaths. A variety of options, which suggest new limitations on access to paracetamol, are based on findings and recommendations of an independent expert report, commissioned by the TGA. TGA does not have a view at this stage on the merits or otherwise of any options.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is reviewing how sugar is labelled on food packaging. Seemingly simple, FZANZ consulted widely. Should packaging for canned and frozen fruit and vegetables include added sugar content? How about dried fruit? Alcohol? And how should added sugar content be presented?
CHF added the health consumer voice to a working group, with other interested organisations, including the Obesity Policy Coalition, Dieticians Australia, The George Institute, Auckland University, and other organisations to consider these and many other questions.
Read the full response.
The value of science was reinforced over the two years of the pandemic as trust spiked and Australians turned to scientists and experts to guide us out of the threat. In the August 2022 edition of Consumers Shaping Health, we ....
CHF wrote to the Treasurer in advance of the October Budget to set out the issues that are important to CHF, our members, and health consumers broadly.
The submission welcomes the Government's decision to deliver wellbeing Budgets in the future, and seeks initial steps to address cost of living pressures faced by the most disadvantaged in the community, including:
The submission is reinforcing the importance of health reform, including additional funding commitments, and pointed to the Roadmap developed by delegates at the Primary Healthcare Leadership Summit co-convened by Consumers Health Forum and the Primary Healthcare Cooperative in May 2022
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