Grampians Health unveils new Consumer Partnership Framework to empower community voices

Grampians Health has launched a Consumer Partnership Framework, demonstrating its commitment to accountability and its efforts to empower consumers to take informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.

Developed with and for consumers in the region, the Framework aims to guide and support consumer partnership across the organisation.

The Framework recognises the importance of understanding the community perspective in relation to their healthcare needs, preferences, experiences, and priorities. Through this, Grampians Health aims to empower consumers to understand and take informed decisions about their health and the care provided to them.

“Consumers are an integral part of any health service and we strongly believe that we can build a better and safer service through engaging with our consumers,” said Denielle Beardmore, Director Grampians Health Quality.

“This framework demonstrates our commitment to meaningfully involve consumers across all levels of our organisation and ensure their voices are heard.”

Grampians Health’s Consumer Partnership Framework is a standardised and overarching guide that will offer opportunities for the consumer voice to be heard across all levels of organisation. By involving consumers in the decision-making process, we aim to deliver more efficient, person-centred care and better health outcomes for the community.

“We understand that engaging consumers is critical to delivering the highest quality of care. We look forward to working with our community to improve health outcomes and patient experience,” said Ms Beardmore.

Grampians Health, which was formed on 1 November 2021 following the amalgamation of Edenhope & District Memorial Hospital, Stawell Regional Health, Ballarat Health Services, and Wimmera Health Care Group, has been open to consumer feedback and values the local communities’ voices.

Last year, Grampians Health established the Community Advisory Committee which reports through to the Grampians Health Quality and Safety Board sub committee, along with the Consumer Reference Groups across the Grampians region to provide an ongoing, formal channel of communication between Grampians Health and its communities it serves.