Recent Projects

The initiation of the Westmead Hospital Community partnerships campaign

Plans commenced in late 2019 to undertake a signage / wayfinding audit in the hospital, but 2020 provided many challenges to these plans. A meet 'n' greet event hosted by WSLHD Consumer Reps to attract new Consumer Reps for the hospital was planned for early March 2020. Although numbers were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, several members of the public attended. The campaign has proceeded where possible with virtual meetings. A standout element has been the interviews conducted by Consumer Representatives with staff from services transitioning to the new Westmead facility. Consumers identified what was important and asked appropriate questions. The outcomes are informing how consumer-important information is communicated via the web.

Baby Steps: Providing early access to a safe, women-centred service from pregnancy to birth

Five key solutions, targeting referral, bookings management and care delivery were co-designed with consumers with the aim of improving access and increasing the number of women commencing specialised antenatal care earlier in pregnancy. Outcomes achieved include an increase in clinic capacity with 524 appointments freed up for other patients (in eight months), a reduction in waste and a more streamlined antenatal service aligned to recommended practice guidelines.
Baby Steps project poster

Auburn Hospital Community and Consumer partnership-building campaign

Early in 2019 Auburn Hospital wanted to build systems for partnering with consumers. We took the challenge to the WSLHD Consumer Council. Their collective thinking drove a campaign which resulted in consumer-identified improvements to patient safety and quality. That campaign led to the development of WSLHD’s first community-based council, starting a conversation between community leaders across many sectors in the Auburn local area, including health, police, education, housing, transport, council, social services and the local state MP.

The campaign trialled a program of initiating conversations with patients in the language of their choice with bilingual Consumer Representatives specially trained in communication. In total there were 152 conversations with consumers in Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese and English. Auburn Hospital responded with enthusiasm and significant improvements have been made.

In 2020 the Consumer Representatives, staff and Community and Consumer Partnerships team were honoured with an Auburn Hospital Quality award (“AQUA”).

Auburn Hospital Partnership Campaign poster

This project implemented consumer engagement activities including steering committees, working parties and community forums involving Consumer Representatives, clinicians and architects, to seek input into the design and development of the Blacktown Mount Druitt Hospital (BMDH) Expansion Project.

BMDH Project website: 

This project was the recipient of the Patients as Partners category in the 2014 NSW Health Awards as ‘Building Our Future Together’.

BMDH project poster