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Community Advisory Committee (CAC). Consumer Participation Service Reviews Ballarat Health Services (BHS) July 2010. Ballarat Health Services (BHS) is a large regional health service in the Grampians Region, west of Melbourne.
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Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Consumer Participation Service Reviews Ballarat Health Services (BHS) July 2010
Ballarat Health Services (BHS) is a large regional health service in the Grampians Region, west of Melbourne. It is the only public hospital for the rural city of Ballarat and provides acute, sub-acute, psychiatric services, residential aged care and community based programs to the greater Ballarat area. It is also the lead provider of public health care in the region.
First met in November 2005 in compliance with Health Services Act 1988 Section 239. Meets monthly. Currently a committee of 10 2 Board Members 1 Executive Director CAC Resource Officer CEO (ex officio) 5 Community Members. The CAC at BHS
Consumer Participation Service Review In order to promote consumer participation (CP) and meaningfully engage the BHS CAC as a enabler of CP, the Consumer Participation Service Review (CPSR) process was developed. The CPSR tool was based on the National Resource Centre Consumer and Community Participation Self Assessment (2004) and the principles of “Doing it with us not for us” participation policy (DHS, 2006).d carers
Service Review Aims To support services within BHS to improve their quality of care. To facilitate the participation of consumers and the community in the planning of services and care.
Consumer Participation Service Review The reviews are done as part of the Community Participation Plan for the organization and part of the work plan of the CAC. The review occurs during a scheduled meeting and occupies the agenda on that occasion. 4 services are reviewed annually.
The reviews are conducted by the CAC in partnership with the manager(s) of the service involved. • Servicesrepresenting a cross section of the organization have so far been reviewed including: • Maternity Security • Podiatry Service Dental Service • Radiology Emergency Department Private Clinics Dialysis Unit • Catering Service Palliative Care Unit • Residential Aged Care Intensive Care
The Review process: A package of relevant information about the service and its plans or current activities for consumer participation is provided to the CAC prior to the review The manager and relevant team members attend the CAC meeting in order to: Present a brief overview of the service and speak briefly to the pre- reading provided Conduct a brief tour of the department as appropriate Participate in a discussion about specific consumer participation issues and answer clarifying questions from the CAC based on the CPSR tool The CAC then complete the tool and provide this as feedback to the manager Opportunity to meet with the CAC at a later date is offered to the manager if further discussion is required.
Evaluation The CPSR process was evaluated to determine the usefulness of this model as a consumer participation tool. In order to do this the service managers and CAC members who participated in the reviews were surveyed. The surveys were semi-structured and provided mostly qualitative data. The type and levels of participation captured in the reviews and the recommendations within them were also analysed.
CAC members The participating CAC members said that the reviews were A meaningful method of engagement - “absolutely”, “definitely”, “very”, “excellent” Useful in giving the CAC a role in the organization and in raising awareness about the CAC and CP Adequately consumer focused An educative experience for the CAC around how CP is applied with different understandings and to different levels in different services or units Satisfying in terms of the role the CAC can play through the reviews
Results • The CAC members believed that the CPSRs work because: • senior management and BHS staff support them, • they are an effective communication vehicle between the CAC and the various services and departments and that as a result there was increased knowledge and understanding of each other. • they have been a vehicle of engagement and enabled the CAC to be an accepted stakeholder and a partner in improving care are one way to promote CP which has many levels. • they are a way of sharing best practice around CP
The managers saw the CPSRs as an opportunity to learn about the CAC as a resource and to begin an ongoing relationship with the CAC. perceived the reviews as an opportunity to promote their service to a high level committee that included executive and Board of Management members. reported that they had acted on/implemented the majority of recommendations that resulted from the reviews. Recommendations mostly related to improvements in patient information and customer/consumer feedback processes
Some Conclusions • The CPSR model is applicable to a broad range of services and service types. • There is a variation in understanding and commitment to CP between managers and the CAC members. However the CPSRs offer a tool to communication, education and potential for deepening of understanding about CP in health service managers. • Both the service managers and the CAC members indicated that the CPSRs are an effective two-way communication tool, allowing each to promote to and educate the other about role and function within the organization.
