A non-government health policy and research centre
Health Issues Centre

Evaluation

The Ageing and Aged Care in Australia booklet

The Ageing and Aged Care in Australia booklet provides a concise overview of the Australian Government's ageing and aged care policies and programs.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2010 report

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework monitors progress in closing the gap in Indigenous Australian health outcomes, health system performance and broader determinants of health.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce National Strategic Framework (2002)

The Workforce Strategic Framework presents a 5-10 year reform agenda to build a competent health workforce to address the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Aged Care & the Participatory Advisory Committee

Department of Human Services are exploring strategies to build consumer participation in project governance (e.g. consumer representative on Quality Indicators Project Steering Committee) & obtain resident feedback on service developments.

An Evaluation of Three Democratic, Community-Based Approaches to Citizen Participation: Surveys, Conversations With Community Groups, and Community Dinners

This study evaluates how well three participatory techniques - a mail survey, focused conversations with existing community groups, and community dinners - meet three key community oriented criteria. These are: representative-ness, working toward identification of communitywide common good, and incorporation of values and beliefs into the discussion. The evaluation conducted in this study indicates that the techniques produce positive results for two of these criteria, but may not be representative of the communities as a whole.

An evaluation of consumer participation in staff selection: strategy at Northern Area Mental Health Service

The evaluation reports significant impacts and achievements including that the strategy was consumer driven; represented a collaborative partnership between consumers and senior management and increased mutual respect; has been accepted as a component of staff selection; is a visible commitment to meaningful consumer participation and the evaluation has identified a range of learnings for consumers.

An evaluation of the National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation in Health

This report presents the findings and conclusions of the final impact evaluation of the National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation in Health (NRCCPH). It is the last stage of a three year evaluation by the Centre for Development and Innovation in Health (CDIH), La Trobe University. The primary purposes of this final impact evaluation were to assess the achievements of the Centre in terms of its goals and objectives; to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the Centre in promoting awareness and utilisation of consumer participation strategies in health, and to make recommendations about the future development of the Centre.The evaluation methodology included document analysis of a range of reports, surveys of users and working group members of the Centre, key informant interviews and reflective discussions with staff.

Australian Triage Process Review 2010

An independent review of the Australian traige scale used by Australian emergency departments - background paper. This reveiw was commissioned by the Australian Health Minister's Advisory Council.

Australian Unity Wellbeing Index

This web site includes the first comprehensive measure of personal and national wellbeing in Australia and includes the following topics: Genuine Progress Indicator (Australia; Alternative to GDP, includes social and environmental costs etc. ; Measuring Australia’s Progress; Key ABS national progress measurement project, bi-ennial. ; Unequal in Life; National community based survey of living standards and inequality in Australian communities

Best Practice in Person-centred Health Care for Older Victorians

This report presents a summary of Phase 1 of the Best Practice in Person-centred Health Care for Older Victorians project undertaken by the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) on behalf of the Victorian Department of Human Services(DHS).

Building consumers in: Project report

This report documents the goals, key lessons and anticipated outcomes of the Arthritis Victoria Consumer and Provider Partnerships Project. The Consumer Participation Project provided an opportunity for the organisation to re-identify and re-affirm the central role of consumers in the organisation. A key lesson of the project was that the various strategies for consumer engagement adopted by the organisation over its thirty year history have reflected the social, political and economic contexts of the time, and that consumer participation is a constantly evolving process

Centre for health Policy, Programs and Economics (CHPPE)

The site offers information about the Centre’s work including health policy, program evaluation, health economics, epidemiology, social sciences and research methodology.

Citizens as partners in policy development: A framework for evaluating deliberative engagement.

Prsented by Catherine Joyce at the Consumers Reforming Health Conference 2011.

Client Services: a performance indicator for quality in community health

Presented by Gillian Hamerston at the Consumers Reforming Health Conference 2011.

Cochrane Collaboration

Many claims are made about health and medicine, but how do we know what really works? The Cochrane Collaboration is an international, independent non-profit organisation which produces systematic reviews of the evidence. The reviews are published online as part of the Cochrane Library.

Community consultation and participation resource kit for area health service managers and project leaders

A resource kit designed to assist Area Health Service Managers and project leaders in establishing and maintaining community and consumer input into planning, policy development and service monitoring.

Consumer and Community Participation Self-Assessment Tool for Hospitals

This tool was produced in 2003 after an evaluation conducted with five metropolitan health services led to revision of the previous audit tool created by National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation in Health. The tool is designed to help hospitals and hospital units to assess how much scope their system allows for consumer (patient), carer and community participation. The tool helps to document policies, processes and activities; identify strengths and weaknesses; and determine the steps and resources needed for improvements. The tool can also be used by hospitals to rate current activities using the EQuIP scale.

Consumer self-rated outcome measures in mental health: A report to the Mental Health Branch

A comparative analysis of the consumer self-rating outcome measures now in use in mental health services throughout Australia, identifying international best practice, and making recommendations towards a uniform national approach.

Developing Evaluation Indicators for Consumer and Community Participation

Evaluation is an important component of any health care program. Assessing how well and in what areas a program has succeeded, helps to establish its value and guide future program development. The National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation is increasingly asked for advice on how to evaluate consumer participation activities, and for examples of performance and outcome indicators. This article draws heavily on the theory of participation, and where possible, demonstrates the theory with practice examples in an effort to encourage progress toward the development of indicators for the evaluation of consumer and community participation activities.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the CAC to boards fo Victorian Public Health Services

Evaluation of the community advisory committees in Victoria conducted by Health Outcomes Internation for the Department of Human Services

Evidence supporting consumer participation in health

The document provides compelling support for the value of consumer participation in individual care, health service development and policy development for the broader health system.

Fourth national mental health plan: an agenda for collaborative government action in mental health 2009-2014

This document sets an agenda for collaborative government action in mental health for five years from 2009, offers a framework to develop a system of care that is able to intervene early and provide integrated services across health and social domains, and provides guidance to governments in considering future funding priorities for mental health.

How are Community Advisory Committees meeting the ‘Doing it with us not for us’ Policy

19 Community Advisory Committees (CACs) across Victoria are asked to identify one objective/action in Community Participation Plans (CPP) and discuss how it relates to the priority actions and standards in ‘Doing it with us not for us’Policy.

Improving health services through consumer participation: a resource guide for organisations - Section 1

Section 1 of a guide for health organisations wanting to increase consumer participation in the planning, management and evaluation of their organisations. This section includes information on the principles, benefits and levels of consumer participation, assessing organisational capacity for change, and methods and models for implementing and evaluating consumer participation. This file contains Section 1 only of the resource. Sections 2 - 7 plus appendices are also available from this website.

Improving health services through consumer participation: a resource guide for organisations - Section 5

Section 5 of a guide for health organisations wanting to increase consumer participation in the planning and management and evaluation of their organisations. Section 5 has a focus on evaluation and includes an evaluation checklist and data collection tools. Other sections of this resource are also available from this website.

Improving health services through consumer participation: a resource guide for organisations - Section 7

Section 7 of a guide for health organisations wanting to increase consumer participation in the planning and management and evaluation of their organisations. Section 7 has a focus on resources,links, practical kits and 'how-to-guides', readings and websites. Other sections of this resource are also available from this website.

Listening and learning: ACT Health consumer feedback standards

The ACT Health Consumer Feedback Standards have been developed to improve feedback mnechanisms for consumers and staff and to improve the quality and safety of health care in the ACT. The standards identify essential elements of a quality consumer feedback system for health services. The standards are accompanied by a Service Improvement Tool which enables health aservices to continuously assess and improve their practices for managing consumer feedback.

Managing Two Worlds Together: Study 2-Staff Perspectives on Care for Country Aboriginal Patients

Study 2-Staff Perspectives on Care for Country Aboriginal Patients reports the views of staff who provide care for country Aboriginal patients in city and country hospitals and health services

Mental Health Discrimination and Insurance. A Survey of Consumer Experiences 2011

This report details the results of a national survey undertaken by the MHCA and beyondblue: the national depression initiative in 2011, which captures the experiences of Australians with lived experience of mental illness in applying for, or making claims against insurance products.

National Mental Health Commission Workshop 2011: Report of key issues and themes

The National Mental Health Commission Workshop brought together Government, service providers, consumers and carers from around Australia, to discuss the establishment and priority focus for the new National Mental Health Commission, due to commence in January 2012. This report summarises what was discussed at the workshop.

New Resources added for November 2009- Ageing and Participation

New resources, web links and practice examples added for November 2009
Aged care and participation

Health Issues Centre with funding from the Department of Health maintains and provides a webpage which contains information about consumer participation in health. Documents focus on resources - key relevant policy documents, examples of participation in practice, and research on consumer participation.

Organisational self-assessment and planning tool for consumer and community participation

This self-assessment tool is designed to assist organisations to determine their commitment and capacity regarding consumer and community participation, and to identify areas of practice that could benefit from consumer participation.

People-Centred Health Care: A Policy Framework (WHO)

This policy framework for people-centred health care has been prepared by the World Health Organization to help governments and other health partners in encouraging dialogue and initiating action.

Performance Reporting for Consumers

Issues for the Australian Private Hospital Sector
This article describes how a group of consumers created a consumer-driven performance report for a private health service.

Practice standards to improve the quality of family and carer participation in adult mental health care: An overview and evaluation

This paper describes a study to evaluate the impact of the standards about participation on practice in an adult mental health service. Hospital and community files were audited for evidence of participation and for surveys of carers and consumers relating to the quality of participation. The audits were undertaken before and after the introduction standards.

Primary care self assessment tool for community and consumer participation, V1.0

A tool to assist organisations to assess their community and consumer participation activities.

Promoting Consumer Participation Consumer Participation in Mental Health Research: in Mental Health Research: A National Workshop

The workshop were designed to provide policy perspectives on consumer participation in mental health research, background information about stakeholder views about benefits, barriers and priorities for action to promote consumer participation in research and models for active consumer involvement in research.

Public Participation Methods: A Framework for Evaluation

This article outlines a number of theoretical evaluation criteria that are essential for effective public participation. These include two types: acceptance criteria, which concern features of a method that make it acceptable to the wider public, and process criteria, which concern features of the process to ensure that it takes place in an effective manner.

Response to the scoping study for a new peak national mental health consumer organisation (2011)

Australian Government response to the scoping study to inform the establishment of a new peak national mental health consumer organisation.

Scoping study to inform the establishment of a new peak national mental health consumer organisation

This report presents the ideas, preferences and areas of consensus which emerged throughout the national scoping project for a new peak national mental health consumer organisation. It outlines an approach to organisational development which foreshadows a strong, viable and accountable organisation based on good governance principles and reflecting the need for an organisation which can deliver for and with mental health consumers nationwide.

Sharing the true stories, Evaluating strategies to improve communication between health staff and Aboriginal patients, STAGE 2 Report

Stage 2 focused on developing and evaluating strategies and resources to bring about constructive change in health service delivery to Aboriginal client and community groups.

Sharing the true stories, Improving communication between health staff and Aboriginal patients, STAGE 1 Report

This project, Sharing the true stories, was a response to the need to develop a more informed understanding of intercultural communication in Aboriginal health care and to identify strategies to improve communication.

South Australian Community Health Research Unit

This research unit at Flinders University supports community and primary health care agencies and groups to carry out research and evaluation, and to use the findings to enhance health in South Australian communities. A particularly useful resource on the site is Planning and Evaluation Wizard, an entertaining and accessible guide to project planning, evaluation, and report writing.

Ten year roadmap for national mental health reform: draft

The draft roadmap details a commitment by governments to a long-term national reform plan for mental health to guide future action and investment across Australia over the next ten years.

The roadmap is a key component of the Australian Government's Delivering national mental health reform package of the 2011-12 budget. The draft has been developed with states and territories, informed by input from mental health experts, including mental health consumers and carers.

The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Australian Government Implementation Plan 2007-2013

This is the second Australian Government Implementation Plan against the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (NSFATSIH) 2003-2013.

The impact of patient and public involvement on UK NHS health care: a systematic review

Published in the International Journal for Quality in Health Care 2012.

Victorian clinical governance policy framework: Enhancing clinical care

This framework is the Department of Health’s policy on clinical governance.

What Mental Health Consumers and Carers Want Brochure

The National Mental Health Consumer & Carer Forum (NMHCCF) is the combined national voice for consumers and carers participating in the development of mental health policy and sector development in Australia

What is person-centred health care? A literature review

Barriers and enablers to person centred practice in this literature review. This literature review also discusses barriers specific to caring people with chronic disease, mental health, dementia, palliative care and neurological disorders.

These are important to know about so that you can consider them when you are action planning.

‘Beyond Compliance'

'Beyond Compliance' is the strategic framework for focusing on quality and safety in public sector residential aged care services. The approach draws together current and future initiatives in a manner that is sustainable and ensures residents and their carers’ choices are respected and quality of life is supported.