HEALTH

Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018-2020

RESPECT • EXCELLENCE • COMPASSION • INTEGRITY • TEAMWORK

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners Yarrawonga Health respectively acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians both past and present of the land and lake which we service and declare Yarrawonga Health’s commitment to reducing inequalities between Indigenous and non- Indigenous health outcomes in line with the Australian Government’s Closing the Gap initiative.

Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018 -2020 Version No: 8 Effective from July 2018 Review date: July 2020 Author: Jodie New Consumer Engagement Manager

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Message from the Board Chair The Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018-2020 outlines our ongoing commitment to ensuring the voice of our consumers, carers and community is at the heart of everything we do.

Our communities play an essential role in shaping the future of healthcare services for this outstanding rural region. This strategy supports two-way communication and engagement mechanisms with our consumers and community to ensure their voice is heard and their contribution is valued, and engagement is meaningful.

Working with our consumers, carers, community and healthcare partners helps to support Yarrawonga Health’s strategic vision of strengthening health in our community through excellence and innovation.

Together the Yarrawonga Health Board of Management, CEO and Senior Leadership Team take great pride in encouraging and learning about the implementation of engagement activities across the health service and receive regular reports which help ensure we are heading in the right direction.

We would like to thank our consumers for joining us on this journey. We are delighted about the work we have already done together and what is yet to come. We are proud of our teams, consumers, carers, community members and healthcare partners for embracing the opportunity to work together and learn from one another. Working together we can achieve great things for a great rural community.

Yours faithfully

Paul Flavel Elaine Mallows Chair, Yarrawonga Health Board of Management CEO, Yarrawonga Health

Yarrawonga Strategic Plan 2016-2019

Plan 2018-2020

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Contents

A Vision for Consumer & Community Engagement...... 5 Why engage? ...... 5 Governance ...... 6 Governance Structure ...... 7 Consumer Consultation for the Strategy ...... 8 Our Commitment to our consumers, carers and community ...... 9 Evaluation, performance and reporting ...... 10 Our engagement journey so far ...... 11 Objectives and priority activities ...... 12-15 Objective one ...... 13 Objective two ...... 14 Objective three ...... 15 Objective four ...... 16 Our engagement approach ...... 17 How to engage...... 18 Engagement Implementation Plan 2018-2020 ...... 19-22 Our Engagement Promise ...... 23 Glossary of acronyms ...... 24 Appendix ...... 25-28

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Executive Summary: This strategy defines and guides consumer and community engagement at Yarrawonga Health 2018- 2020. It was completed with consultation from consumers and community groups.

Yarrawonga Health values engagement with our consumers and the community and strongly believes that by working together to cultivate meaningful participation and embedding that in the fabric of our organisation this will foster active and meaningful collaboration with consumers. This in turn will drive a health service that is better equipped to provide services that are more appropriate for users in our community and more accessible and equally as responsive, propelling us towards our strategic vision of strengthening health in our community through excellence and innovation.

The implementation plan demonstrates how this will be achieved and provides clear focus for our organisation with relation to objectives for engagement and in practice.

A vision for Community & Consumer Engagement Our vision is for our health service to make the best possible decisions about the provision of health services for the region and in embedding consumer engagement into every part of our organisation. By bringing the voices of our communities, consumers and stakeholders into the health topics that are relevant to them we can deliver appropriate and responsive healthcare services and better patient experiences. To make this happen, we want to nurture a health service that has the skills to engage with the community meaningfully and drive a culture which respects and welcomes consumer and community input and opinion.

This plan demonstrates this and also provides direction to our teams and informs our community about how we engage and consult with health consumers and our community. All consumer and Community engagement and consultation activities will focus on areas of services planning and design which informs priority setting and resource allocation. It also focusses on service delivery; this informs recommendations to improve patient flow, experience, quality and safety. Why engage? Engagement develops progressive healthcare services that empower consumers to participate and be active as partners in their own health which in turns strengthens health in our local communities and relationships with our stakeholders. True engagement initiatives assist in driving consumer confidence to participate and develop their interest in being part of the solution. This is turn, can build the cohesiveness and capacity of the community. We engage because it results in better health outcomes: better service planning, better projects, better policies, better programs and better resource use. We advocate that we strongly believe that when our consumers, community and health partners and services join forces we are stronger, more cohesive and provide better services and experiences for our community.

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Governance The Yarrawonga Health Service and Board of Management, together with our Senior Leadership Team are accountable for the development and implementation of the Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018-2020. Yarrawonga Health is committed to embedding consumer and community engagement into Yarrawonga Health’s organisational culture and practices with support from the Yarrawonga Health Leadership Team. Further information about the legislation and alignment of the strategy to other Yarrawonga Health documents is available in Appendix A.

The consumer and community engagement governance structure supports partnerships between the Yarrawonga Health Board of Management and Senior Leadership team and our consumers, communities, primary healthcare providers and stakeholders. The Yarrawonga Health Consumer Advisory Committee provides formal representation and is an important voice for consumers and community of the Yarrawonga Mulwala region. The membership of the CAC reflects the regions diversity and supports two-way communication with the Board, Leadership Team and partners.

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Governance structure for Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community engagement

Codes:

Yarrawonga Health Board of Management

Yarrawonga Health Senior Operational Committee

➤ ➤

Yarrawonga Health Seniors Reference Acute & Community Yarrawonga Health Consumer Group

Yarrawonga Health Maternity reference group Yarrawonga Health

Program Team

Consumer representatives participate on various engagement activities including internal committees and sub- committees, surveys, focus groups and staff training.

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Consumer Consultation for the Strategy The development of the plan was informed/strengthened by consumer consultation. The purpose of this consultation was to understand consumer perspectives on Yarrawonga Health in general, what it does well and what it should focus in relation to consumer engagement and community driven priorities surrounding health.

The consumer consultation involved three key aspects:

• Conduct of a series focus groups with consumers utilizing and working with community groups; • Conduct of consumer surveys • Conduct of one-on-one consumer interviews

A total of 196 consumer consultations occurred across 17 different community groups, support groups/ network and surveys.

The key theme emerging from the consultation was for Yarrawonga Health to strengthen concepts and principles related to meaningful engagement and person centred care, for example:

• Improving the overall experience for the patient; • Investing in strategies to empower and educate consumers including understanding and navigating the system of service; • Improving the mechanisms to recognise and respond to the needs to diverse patient groups; and • Developing a more systmatic approach to ”person centred” patient care.

When asked how the consumers would like to engage more with Yarrawonga Health and to have more of a say in how services are planned and delivered, responses included:

• Delivering news about Yarrawonga Health more frequently via a variety of mediums including social media, local print and regular contact with community groups; • Increasing patient experience surveys; and • Providing consumers with opportunities to be directly involved in those committees where quality and safety decisions-making occurs.

This feedback, combined with feedback obtained from the Yarrawonga Health Consumer Advisory Committee in a dedicated planning workshop, has assisted in shaping the 2018-2020 Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy.

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Our commitment to our consumers, carers and community 1. Participation and partnership Consumers and communities will be involved in decision making to plan, design, deliver, monitor and evaluate services to make sure it meets their needs.

2. People first as equal partners Any engagement is truly about considering the needs, values, family situations, social circumstances and lifestyles of consumers and the community.

3. Accessible and inclusive Yarrawonga Health develops strategies to increase access and inclusion for people who are marginalised and experience poorer health outcomes.

4. Diversity Yarrawonga Health values the diversity of consumers and communities for example people with a disability, older persons, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, young people, people with a mental illness and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

5. A culture of mutual respect and value Yarrawonga Health values and promotes a culture of respect for consumers and the community’s contribution to projects, collaborations service planning and provision, monitoring and review.

6. Pro active support Yarrawonga Health teams understand the needs and importance of the contributions of consumers and the community, and create processes to actively support and enhance engagement.

7. Influence and improvement Yarrawonga Health utilises the information and feedback gained through engagement to improve health policy, planning, and service delivery and design, and ensures that consumers and communities are provided with feedback about the changes their input has achieved.

8. Continuous improvement Yarrawonga Health believes that regular evaluation improves future engagement through shared learnings and renewed commitment.

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Evaluation, performance and reporting Yarrawonga Health is required to review the Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy every two years. In addition to this, formal monitoring against KPI’s and the implementation plan will occur annually to ensure the needs of our consumers and community are being met.

The overall indicators of success of our strategy will be shown by: • Attraction, retention and turnover of consumers in formal advisory roles • Diversity of consumers engaged in formal advisory roles • Number of followers on the Yarrawonga Health’s Facebook page and social media channels • Effectiveness and satisfaction of consumers on Consumer committees, teams and reference parties • Monitoring and reviewing service improvements which are implemented as a result of consumer feedback; compliments, complaints and suggestions

Key performance indicators are outlined for each of the Strategy’s objectives (see page 13)

Data will be extracted from the following sources: • Consumer Advisory Committee surveys conducted annually. • Yarrawonga Health Safety and Quality Improvement Plan • Yarrawonga Health Communications survey which will be conducted annually • Yarrawonga Health compliments, complaints and suggestions • Service improvements identified as a result of compliments, complaints and suggestions • Ongoing patient experience surveys • VHES patient surveys • Consumer reports and actions arising from CAC

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Our engagement journey so far…

Contributions of consumers and our community have helped us:

• Improve patient information, brochures and website design and content

• Identify signage, way finding issues and accessibility to areas and entrances

• Increase engagement with our multicultural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island populations through the Many Mobs Cultural Connections group and Consumer Advisory Committee

• Completed the Yarrawonga Health Strategic Plan 2016 – 2019

• Meet the requirements of Standard 2, Partnering with Consumers under the National Safety and Quality Health Standards (NSQHS) in March 2017.

• We appointed a dedicated Consumer Engagement Manager to lead, drive, coordinate and support consumer engagement and communication and engagement across Yarrawonga Health

• Service planning and provision

• Digital rebranding and redevelopment

• Introduce ”A Community Visitor” for inpatient experience

Consumer and Community Engagement for Yarrawonga Health is an evolving space which is continually maturing and growing. Partnering with our consumers, carers and communities allows us to work towards delivering high quality rural healthcare that strengthens health in our community and assists in driving excellence and innovation.

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The 2018-2020 Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy reports against four key objectives:

1. Build effective communication and engagement that is valued across the organization, clearly communicated and systematically embedded.

2. Ensure all engagement will be inclusive and assist improve health outcomes for those who may experience barriers in accessing our health services and information about their health and our services.

3. Empower consumers and members of our community to be active partners in managing their own health and in making their own decisions about the care that is provided and types of services that can assist.

4. Strengthen partnerships with other healthcare service providers, primary care providers and stakeholders to deliver better healthcare outcomes for the community.

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Objectives and key priority activities

valued across the organization, clearly communicated and

How will we achieve this:

1. Thorough understanding of why we are engaging with consumers and communicating clearly.

2. Knowing our engagement rationale and objectives on any given project or consultation.

3. Increase followers on the Yarrawonga Health Facebook page.

4. Start and develop followers on a Yarrawonga Health Instagram page

5. Deliver a community update monthly to promote the achievements of the Yarrawonga Health focusing on safety and quality, new services and healthy lifestyle choices.

6. Increase involvement of Community Visitor Program in conducting patient experience surveys across the health service by increasing the amount of visits and volunteers.

7. Provide forums and resources for consumers, carers and significant others to provide feedback to inform and improve quality of service.

8. Involve consumers through patient stories in staff orientation & education sessions where they can share their story about their journey through the healthcare system and improve the way we deliver services.

9. Deliver understanding consumer participation mini- workshops to midlevel management & unit meetings

10. Apply consumers onto interview panels for new and existing staff positions.

11. Cultivate a Yarrawonga Health community of advocates. A group incredibly passionate and who are easily identifiable, and activity measurable. A conduit for feedback and missing link and filling some of the gap between direct to Yarrawonga Health and social media.

Monitoring and key performance indicators: • Community Visitors are recruited and are regularly involved in conducting patient experience surveys. • Consumers understand the Australian Charter of Health Care Rights and how to make a compliment, complaint or suggestion. • Monitor the times patient stories are utilized in training & viewed on Pulse via staff education sessions. • Monitor the number of compliments, complaints and suggestions received through the Quality Team. • Monitor service improvements identified as a result of compliments, complaints and suggestions. • Increase in the number of followers on the Yarrawonga Health Facebook & Instagram page. • Community News comments & feedback. • Google, web and Social media analytics. • YH Advocates/Ambassadors and promotion of such.

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Objectives and key priority activities

Ensure all engagement will be inclusive and assist improve health outcomes for those who may experience barriers in accessing our health services and information about their health and our services. How will we achieve this:

1. Proactively acknowledge diversity and embrace inclusivity publicly and internally to make sure potential and existing consumers of Yarrawonga Health feel a part of the healthcare community and have a voice.

2. Actively seek consumer representation from marginalised groups, this may include; multicultural groups and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI), youth, young mothers, those with mental illness and all abilities. Leverage from our Diversity plan and continue driving actions from this plan.

3. Ensure representation from these groups is included on the Consumer Advisory Committee from the Yarrawonga Mulwala Region.

4. Increase community engagement activities to engage our community in supporting the delivery of our vision; strengthening health in our community through excellence and innovation.

5. Embracing technology and investing in innovative practices of engagement to assist in reaching those who may not necessarily willingly present in person at our service or services.

6. Work with internal and local partners who provide outreach services to strategise how we can engage this hard to reach community.

Monitoring and key performance indicators:

• The reach and representation of diversity amongst our consumers, carers and the community will be recorded and included on the Yarrawonga Health website. • Increase in followers for the Yarrawonga Health Facebook & instragram pages, along with website diagnostics • Membership numbers of the Consumer Advisory Consumers will include greater diversity and encourage active representation • Active attendance and continued to nurture relationships with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural groups, and development promotion of LGTBI friendly organization. • Invest in building a Pregnancy and birthing APP that assists mothers schedule and manage appointments and updates surrounding antenatal visits.

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Objectives and key priority activities

Empower consumers and members of our community to be active partners in managing their own health and in making their own decisions about the care that is provided and types of services that can assist. How will we achieve this:

1. Build an understanding of health issues and health services through improved health literacy and online communication technology;

2. Use research and innovation to ensure technology easily translates to support consumers in self- directed care.

3. Embed person-centred care practices and/or framework at Yarrawonga Health working with Studor Group and promote it publicly.

4. Establish clearer, broader and more user friendly systems to receive consumer feedback on patient information publications.

5. Create an interactive online information and communication platform that encourages anonymous feedback via website.

6. Leverage further to support consumers and the community’s access to information, including brochures and factsheets about Yarrawonga Health, healthcare and their rights, in a variety of formats via website and promote accordingly.

7. Empower consumers to have a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities through education, training and support from Health Issues Centre Melbourne.

Monitoring and key performance indicators:

• Record and monitor feedback from consumers on patient information publications and ensure feedback is incorporated where possible. • Continue to work with Studor Group on strengthening our commitment to person centred care and elevating staff performance through education and leadership development. • Investment analysis and continued evaluation and roll out of new projects such as the Montessori Project, the Palliative Care Project, the River Babes Project. • Diagnostics on views and promotion of patient experience stories via Pulse platform. (videos to be developed) and work shopped at unit meetings. • Development of Youth Ambassadors and monitoring of feedback and opinon of such. • Implementation of Senior Advisory Committee to aged care and subsequent survey opinion of success. • Implementation of Maternity Reference Group.

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Objectives and key priority activities

Strengthen partnerships with other healthcare service providers, primary care providers and stakeholders to deliver better healthcare outcomes for the community. How will we achieve this:

1. Continue to build and strenthen relationships with general practitioners, Murray Primary Health Network (MPHN) and other primary care providers to deliver integrated healthcare and to reduce preventable hospital admissions.

2. Work with Moira Shire Council and local community groups to deliver health promotion activities which help inform people about healthy lifestyle choices, and information on chronic illness, dementia and support.

3. Identify and action health service priorities that are based on consumer and community health needs.

4. Ensure the membership of the Consumer Advisory Committee represents the consumers and communities which the Yarrawonga Health serves.

5. Complete stakeholder mapping exercise to identify the purpose of our relationships with stakeholders, primary care providers and healthcare service providers and connections and pathways of each.

Monitoring and key performance indicators:

• Meet with Moira Shire Council bi-annually. • Ensure that endorsed service plan reflects consumers and community engagement. • Stakeholder map completed to support future consumer and community engagement activities and prioritise strategic relationships.

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Our engagement approach... It’s important that we listen

Yarrawonga Health recognises that consumers and community engagement is everyone’s business, and leads to better health outcomes and less admissions. It is therefore essential that it is embedded in our organisational culture and practice at every level of the organisation.

Standard 2 of the NSQHS Standards requires the involvement of consumers in the organisational and strategic processes that guide the planning, design and evaluation of health services. There is also the Victorian government’s ‘Doing it with us not for us’ participation policy. This policy provides strategic direction for consumers, carers and community members by supporting them to work with their health service and the Department of Health and Human Services in improving health policy and planning, care and treatment, and the wellbeing of all Victorians.

Yarrawonga Health has adopted the strategic direction across four levels of engagement across the health service system. This is line with the Victorian Governments ‘Doing it with us, not for us’ participation policy.

Consumers are at the heart of everything we do

Individual care level - This level focuses on engaging with the individual consumer and/or their family/ carer as partners in their own healthcare, support and treat men t .

Service or Team and Unit level - This level focuses on engaging with consumers and the community to have input into how programs, service, or facilities are delivered, structure, evaluated and improved.

Health Service Organisational level - This level focuses on how Yarrawonga Health engages with consumers and community at a regional level.

Department of Health level - This level focuses on how consumers and communities are engaged to influence and provide input on health policy, reform and legislation at the system level across Local, State and Commonwealth jurisdictions.

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The Participation Spectrum

Yarrawonga Health’s promise How we will engage to our community • Website We will keep the public • Social media • Health promotion activities informed Inform • Informed consent • Clinical handover at the bedside • Open disclosure and clinical disclosure processes • Public surveys • Patient Experience Surveys We will keep the public • Consumer feedback, compliments Consult informed, listen to and and suggestions acknowledge concerns and • Social media aspirations, and provide • Focus groups feedback on how input has • Forums influenced the decision • Community health promotion stalls and representation

• Consumer workshops We will ensure any concerns • Focus groups and aspirations are directly • Conferences Involve reflected in the alternatives • Recruitment panels developed and provide • Staff training feedback on how input • Patient information, Australian influenced the decision. Charter of Health Care Rights You asked, you said, we did.... • Discharge planning We will develop solutions • Consumer Advisory Committee based on co-design and • Yarrawonga Health Community incorporate advice and Reference Groups including Youth Collaborate feedback into the final decision Ambassadors, Seniors and to the maximum extent Maternity possible • True people focussed Care • YH Community Advisory Committee participant in internal committees and sub- committees • Provide and promote access We will implement what to interpreter services patients, carers and potential • Ensure that consumers are patients need to support them represented during any strategic Empower to make informed decisions planning about their own treatment and • Development of Youth healthcare Ambassadors, Maternity & Senior Advisory Committees to influence policy & decision making at senior level; • Ongoing training and support of Consumer Advisory Committee members • Recruitment of members to CAC & Clinical Governance

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Engagement Actions & Implementation

Consumer and Community Engagement Implementation Plan 2018-2019

NSQHS Objectives & Engagement action Responsibility Timeframe Std key priorities

Governance

Provide quarterly updates to the CEM Completed 1 Board & Executive Leadership 2.1 team on the implementation of the strategy.

2.11 Provide regular reports to the BOM QM Completed 1 on patient feedback relating to 2.8 issues and solutions. Provide opportunities to the CEM Completed 1 CAC to evaluate and monitor the strategies implementation plan.

Develop and implement processes CEM/Health Promotion Completed 3 to improve Patient Education and Health Literacy with involvement from the CAC

Connect with local community CEM, ODCS, SOC Completed 2 groups, including marginalised groups, to seek input into planning and strategic priorities.

Publicly promote the YH Facebook CEM/CAC ongoing to increase membership and 2.8,2.11 ensure partnerships are 2 reflective of the regions diverse range of backgrounds in the population served by the YH,

4 Set up bi-annual meetings with CEM/SOC June 2020 2.1 MSC, GP’s, CAC

Complete stakeholder mapping CEM/SOC In progress to identify all stakeholders, 4 partnerships and the relationships that exist. Partnering with Consumers

Identify champions across YH CEM Completed - to promote the benefits that 1 consumers and the community Discussion with 2.11, can provide to the quality of health heads Feb 2020 care. Provide these champions with 2.14 HIC training.

Provide opportunities for CEM/QM ongoing/plan consumers and the community to 2.2, 2.11 2 provide feedback into 2019 operational planning through surveys and focus groups.

Develop a policy which outlines CEM/QM March 2020 the level of consumer 2.1,2.11 4 engagement in safety and quality decision making and improvement initiatives 2.3 Develop a policy which outlines CEM March 2020 how to engage consumers and 4 procedure for doing so and implement org wide, ensuring the rights patients, carers & family are respected & considered Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018-2020 19

NSQHS Objectives & Engagement action Responsibility Timeframe Std key priorities

Utilise consumer and community QM/Clinical Ongoing feedback including patient 2.1 Governance 1 satisfaction surveys, compliments, complaints and suggestions, Committee clinical incidents and open disclosure data to identify opportunities for safety and quality improvements Develop a policy and procedure CEM/QM March 2020 4 which outlines the level and 2.11 rules of engagement with consumers and community groups. Workforce Orientation & Training Provide more advanced training CEM Completed to support CAC representatives 1 in 2.12 fulfil their role requirements and to enable more effective engagement. Provide Patient-Centre Care CEM/VIPY Co Completed 3 training via Studor to members of Ordinator the CAC/HIC

Ensure patient experience videos CEM/DDON Completed 3 are presented and CAC member attends orientation days Health Literacy, Patient information and publications

Develop and implement CEM/Health Ongoing process to improve Patient 3 Education and Health Literacy Promotion/OCDS 2.9 with involvement from the CAC. Development of templates for CEM Ongoing patient education and 3 brochures/ service info in conjunction with CEM & CAC Development of templates for 3 patient education with CEM December 2020 involvement of CAC.

Establish mechanisms to CEM Completed provide 2-way feedback to the 2.9 3 consumers and community about how their feedback has been utilised e.g. forums, publications, social media and website. Partnering with Consumers Design and Governance 2.6 Devise a mechanism to involve CEM/QM Completed 1 consumers in the review of policies and procedures. Include consumer 2 representation on focus groups CEM/CEO Completed 2.11 when designing or redesigning health services and in service planning.

CAC members together with CEM/CAC Completed CEM to promote the 2.8 3 opportunity for 4 x youth ambassadors from 2x schools to be invited to present on current issues of concern and evaluation on services for 2.8 Developmentyouth. of the following CEM/CAC/RACS Completed consumer committees: 2 Maternity Reference Group NUMS/Maternity Senior Advisory Group Team

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NSQHS Objectives & Engagement action Responsibility Timeframe Std key priorities

Workforce training continued

Undertake a review of the CEM/VIPY Co ord./QM Completed via Nov current Patient-Centred Care workshop 2018 practices and communications training, including training for 1 the management of compliments, complaints and 2.7, 2.14 suggestions, with recommendations for future improvements. Involve the CAC in the review of the training. Provide Health Issues Centre CEM & DDON Completed Jan 20 4 training to champions of Consumer Participation staff & NUM/mid-level managers

Involve consumers in training CEM/QM/DDON Completed the clinical workforce by 2.14 sharing their own lived- 1 experience about their journey as a patient through the health service through visual videos at orientation & on Pulse platform 2.14 Development a mechanism for CEM/MPC June 2020 – cont the inclusion of CAC members 1 or Consumer on recruitment work from the panels for interviews of new workshop 2018 staff. Health Literacy and Engagement Continue to develop, design and CEM Ongoing distribute print, audio-visual and social media 1 communication to ensure it meets the needs of our 2.9 consumers and community, whilst ensuring it easy to understand and accessible.

Attend community groups with CEM ongoing 2.2 1 updates on current items and issues facing the organization. Raise profile and awareness of CEM Ongoing YH services, its teams & board and CAC members through creative, relevant and engaging 1 communication including 2.2 development and release of instagram site and through the use of digital media and multiplatform mediums. (ie. TV, Print, Digital) CAC members to participate Clinical Governance ongoing 2.1 in reviewing and analysing 2 safety and quality performance where possible.

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NSQHS Objectives & Engagement action Responsibility Timeframe Std key priorities

2.11 CAC members to make CEM/QM ongoing recommendations and 2 participate in the planning and implementation of quality improvements.

Undertake a review of all existing QM/CEM Ongoing 2 local Patient Experience Surveys and ensure feedback is recorded in a central location and reported on. 2.11 Involve CAC members in CEM/QM ongoing reviewing results for Patient 2 Experience Surveys and support them to make recommendations for improvements.

Involve CAC members in the CEM/QM Completed 2 delivery of recommendations 2.12 from Patient Experience Surveys. Increase capacity of Community CEM June 2020 2 Visitors by increasing numbers & provide them with training.

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We promise to be creative, relevant & engaging We promise that we will endeavor to make sure our engagement methodologies capture the community’s imagination and draw people into the process; we need to ensure these methods are considered as more than mere tools or media, ensuring they deliver consistant messaging that is personalised, creative and relevant to make them as engaging as possible.

Relevance and penetration will be developed and increased through ensuring that there are multiple engagement platforms. Introducing additional and innovative engagement methods will make it more likely a participant will find the engagement option that they’re most comfortable with. For some of our consumers that will be a small group conversation over coffee face to face, for others it will be online via social media tools. We advocate going to consumers rather than expecting consumers to come to us. If our consumers are comfortable, the quality and honesty of information that is provided is likely to be much greater. Feedback: We asked…You said…. We did…. We promise that we will be genuine about engagement by ensuring feedback to our valued consumer groups. Feedback is one of the most important elements of the engagement process and with it we will show real respect for all of our consumer contributions and participation.

Feedback in the form of providing a letter or report or presentation to both participants and decision makers is critical for a positive engagement process and due diligence in term of evaluating effectiveness.

For management or decision makers it clearly demonstrates who has participated in an engagement process and an understanding of the breadth of feedback and stakeholder opinion. It also allows participants to receive a summary of the range of information received and how this and all feedback is being considered.

The concept can be broken down into the three simple elements “We asked, You said, We did. “

Providing feedback to participants can result in increased motivation to participate in future engagement processes and helps to:

• build trust and confidence in engagement process • provide transparency and accountability • clarify whether community issues have been accurately understood • improve relationships • confirm whether the original engagement goals and objectives are being met

An effective engagement report, letter or presentation can include:

• a summary of the process (what you did) • a summary of the findings (high level/common themes) • we asked (key questions) • you said (use graphs, images and verbatim comments) • we did (a response to comments and feedback is being used) • next stages of your project (how to stay involved/informed, contact details)

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Glossary of terms and acronyms This glossary of terms and acronyms has been adapted from the Queensland and South Australian Health Consumer Engagement Framework.

CAC: Consumer Advisory Committee is our Yarrawonga Health Consumer Advisory Committee which is made up of health consumers, including family members and carers, who have applied and been accepted by Yarrawonga Health to represent the voice of health consumers in the Yarrawonga Mulwala region. A Consumer Advisory Committee member is a member of the Consumer Advisory Committee.

Carers: The Carers (Recognition) Act 2008 identifies a carer as an individual who provides, in a non- contractual and unpaid capacity, ongoing care or assistance to another person who, because of disability, frailty, chronic illness or pain, requires assistance with everyday tasks.

Community: refers to groups of people organisations with a common local or regional interest in health. Communities may connect through a community of place such asa neighbourhood, region, suburb; a community of interest such as patients, industry sector, profession, environment group; or a community that forms around a specific issue such as improvements to public healthcare or through groups sharing cultural backgrounds, religions or languages.

Community engagement: Community engagement refers to the connections between government, communities and citizens in the development and implementation of policies, program, services and projects. It encompasses a wide variety of government-community interactions ranging from information sharing to community consultation and in some instances, active participation in government decision making. In incorporates public participation, with people being empowered to contribute to decisions affecting their lives, through the acquisition skills, knowledge and experience.

Consumers: are people who use, or are potential users, of health services including their family and carers. Consumers may participate as individuals, groups, organisations of consumers, Community Advisory Partners or communities.

Consumer engagement: Consumer engagement informs broader community engagement. Health consumers actively participate in their own healthcare and in health policy, planning, service delivery and evaluation at service and agency levels.

Health literacy: Health literacy is the extent to which consumers can obtain, process and understand information about health care, services and the health system. It also refers to a consumer’s capacity to use that information to make decisions about their health care.

Glossary of acronyms

DDONE Deputy Director of Nursing and Education ODCS Operational Director for Community Services MSC Moira Shire Council CEM Community Engagement Manager CAC Consumer Advisory Committee QM Quality Manager YH Yarrawonga Health BOM Board of Management MPHN Murray Primary Health Network NSQHS NSQHS National Safety and Quality Health Standards

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Appendix A Legislation, policy context and alignment Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011

The Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 (s40) and the Health and Hospitals Boards Regulations 2012 (Part 4) require that each HHS develops and publishes a consumer and community engagement strategy to promote consultation with health consumers and members of the community about the provision of health services.

Accreditation- National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards 2nd Edition

To ensure the highest level of safety and quality for our patient, Yarrawonga Health participates in external peer assessments to monitor performance against the ten National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. The ten standards were developed by the Australian Commission to drive the implementation of safety and quality systems and to improve the quality of health care in Australia. Yarrawonga Health completed a periodic review in March 2017 second edition, which included a full assessment against Standard 2, Partnering with Consumers. Yarrawonga Health passed this assessment with no recommendations. This strategy aligns with the requirements of Standard 2.

Australian Charter of Health Care Rights

The Australian Charter of Health Care Rights specifies the rights or patients and consumers when seeking to receive healthcare services. The charter allows patients, consumers, families, carers and service providers to have a common understanding of the rights of people receiving health care.

Alignment • Yarrawonga Health Strategic Plan 2016-2019 • YH Employee Engagement Strategy 2018-2019 (under construction) • YH Communications Strategy 2018-2019

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Appendix B Our local consumer and community profile Moira Shire is located in the Hume region of Victoria and stretches across 4,045 square kilometres from Bundalong in the east to in the west. Our northern boundary is defined by the Murray River and our south-west, southern and southeast regions share boundaries with the municipalities of Campaspe, Greater Shepparton, Benalla, Wangaratta and Indigo. Moira (map) is centrally located to the regional cities of Shepparton, Wangaratta and Albury-Wodonga.

Moira Shire includes four major towns; , Nathalia, and Yarrawonga and 22 smaller communities: Barmah, Bearii, Bundalong, , Invergordon, , , , , , , Peechelba, , St James, , , , Wilby, , Yabba North, and .

Yarrawonga Catchment Yarrawonga Catchment (Includes Yarrawonga, Mulwala, Bundalong and Tungamah).

Yarrawonga/Mulwala is experiencing steady population growth and during the 2016 Census the population of Yarrawonga was recorded at 8,833, and Mulwala at 2,161. Analyses of the populations in both towns reflect very similar characteristics in relation to age, ethnicity and income. The Yarrawonga catchment displays a high population of aged persons with 28.3% of residents aged over 65 years (Victoria = 14.2%). Also within the catchment is the population of Tungamah (pop. 636). Combined, Yarrawonga Health has a direct catchment of 11,630 people.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in the Yarrawonga region is represented at 1.0% of our total catchment. Moira Shire‘s current population is approximately 29,000 people. Of these 49.8% are male and 50.2% are female. Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander people make up 1.7% of the population. In Moira Shire, 81.7% of people were born in Australia, which is considerably higher than the State and National result. Most Moira Shire residents (87.9%) speak only English at home, with Italian, Arabic and Punjabi the most common non-English languages. The median age of Moira‘s population is 47 years, which is higher than the State and National medians of 37 and 38 years, respectively. Children aged 0 - 14 years make up 17.7% of the population and people aged 65 years and over make up 25.0% of the population.

Yarrawonga has experienced significant growth over the last five years. This growth is forecast to continue over the next ten years at a rate of between 3% and 4% per annum.

Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018-2020 26

Appendix B continued

The growth that is occurring is driven by a wide range of factors including:

• Ageing of the Victorian population seeking retirement destinations that allow ‘down-sizing’. • Retiree preference for warmer climates. • The increasing attraction of families for affordable living options in regional Victoria. • Families seeking a lifestyle change. Cultural and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) groups In the 2016 Census in the Yarrawonga catchment, 82% of Yarrawonga residents were born in Australia with English being the language most spoken at home by 88.4% of people (Victoria = 79.6%). Italian is statistically the next language spoken at home at 0.2%. Population health status The Victorian Population Health Survey 2015 states that overall the health of Victorians population is improving. The population of the Yarrawonga catchment is classified in Hume statistics.

In comparison to Victoria, the Hume region (age standardized) has:

• Strong compliance with sufficient physical activity; better than the state average • Strong compliance with breast screening program; better than the state average • Strong compliance with bowel screening; in line with state average

The report also highlighted the following focus areas for Hume incorporating Yarrawonga:

• Increased risk factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption • Increased risk factors around adults under psychological stress • Increased risk factors around adults with potentially preventable hospitalisations. • Lower than state average compliance with healthy consumption of fruit and vegetables

27 Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018-2020

Appendix C

Our connections Murray Primary Health Network Health Service Partners • External healthcare providers such as local Our partners and stakeholders GPs Yarrawonga Health has strong partnerships • Private health care providers in the region across the region with the following groups • Residential Aged Care Facilities and organisations; • Non-government organisations Consumers and Community Reference • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Groups Islander Community Health • Numerous mental health community • Consumer Advisory Committee service providers • YH BoM • YH Teams Government • Local Members of Parliament Inter-Agency Partners • Moira Shire Council • Department of Health and Human Services • Health Minister • Department of Aboriginal and Torres • Sun Country Tourism Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs Media organisations Unions • Vic Ambulance Service • Vic Police Service • CFA

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29 Yarrawonga Health Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy 2018-2020