Metro North Hospital and Health Service Consultation Hub

For feedback on the revised draft Consumer Engagement Procedure and Guideline.

Common themes that emerged in the feedback and where clarification was required included:

• Language and tone - needed to be clearer and consumer orientated. Some language reflected staffing/employment and undervalued the contribution of consumers
• Vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) - information was confusing and it wasn’t clear what consumer activities it was applicable to
• Payments - amounts and examples of the ‘standard’ and ‘special’ payment were confusing and people were concerned how there will be consistency across Metro North.
• Succession – section in guideline needed to be elaborated, including that existing consumers will continue to be supported
• Engagement agreement– confusion around who explains this to consumers
• Diversity of consumers-  ensure a diversity of consumers is involved that is reflective of our community
• Termination – this section requires more detail on the process for staff to follow and steps to address conflict as it arises, before it gets to this stage
• Criminal history check – clarifications needs to be provided on when this required
• Opportunities to network with other consumers across Metro North
• Providing feedback to consumers on their involvement and outcomes
• Consumers accessing support resources referred to in the guideline  (that are on QHEPS)

We sought clarification on some feedback from consumers and engagement leads and incorporated feedback where appropriate.

Some consumer feedback showed confusion on the intent of these resources and overall intent of consumer engagement across Metro North. We modified the resource to make to make this clearer.

We also sought clarification and support from Metro North executive on the final draft.

In 2016, we commenced the  "Connection and Respectful Experience" (CaRe) survey in Community, Indigenous and Subacute Service (CISS) to understand our consumer experience and to improve our services.  The CaRE survey asked you how we are going in following key areas:

• connection to reflect the importance of taking time to establish  trust and relationships
• respect  to ensure that you experience respect in the way you are treated and in all communication
• empathy  to ensure that compassionate care was provided to you
• information to see if you received all the information you needed, in a way that you understood, and was helpful and timely
• continuity and consistency to ensure that all healthcare professionals involved in your care were consistent and worked as a team to support you
• involvement as a way of understanding if you felt you were involved in the decisions about your care as much as you wanted to be. We also asked if you wanted your family to be involved and how well we did that.

A total of 140 people completed the survey.

Across all of the domains, overall scores were given.

• The lowest questions scored was “Were your family and/or friends involved in your care as much as you wanted them to be?”  followed by “Were you involved in decisions about your care as much as you wanted to be?”.  These two questions had the highest ‘never’ responses.
• Four other questions scored below 90%:
  • Did staff take time to get to know you?
  • Was information provided to you in a way you could understand?
  • Were you able to ask any questions that you had?
  • Do you feel staff involved in your care worked well together?
  • How likely are you to speak highly of your experience?

• In response to the request for further information, the following specific issues were identified:

• Specific issues identified at CISS by consumers included:

• Comfort and environment of Interim Care – including food, maintenance, comfort and temperature.
   
• Parking “Car parking a problem”
  
   
• Appointment system: “Hard to get appointments that work with everyone” and “I wasn't sure if I could request an earlier appointment if I had issues with my medications”.  Appreciative comments focused on the flexibility of appointments that allowed patients to manage their time, and fit with their schedules.
   
• Continuity of care “Always changing educators, hard to build a relationship…” .
   
• Need for understanding of elderly and carer needs and support needs of patients.  Comments reflected this and the appreciative of a helpful and supportive service were echoed.
   
• Respect and communication: “I felt inferior and not listened to.” 

Connected/integrated care “Staff were confused on arrival. Did not receive information on arrival. I had to ask questions to find out what was happening…” and “Follow up phone calls don’t always happen.” Comments also reflected linkages and communication between services could be improved

In response to the findings, the following actions are underway:

• Present the findings of the CISS CaRE Patient Experience Survey Pilot Evaluation to the CISS Engage Committee Meeting
• Develop and implement a CISS Consumer and Community Engagement Plan that includes the roll out of the CaRE Patient Experience Survey across service lines
• Develop strategies to provide the survey in a variety of formats such as mobile device, hard copies, email link, text link etc.
• Investigate the feasibility of using the CaRE Experience Survey following a clinical incident and/or complaint
• Set 'stretch' targets for each domain  (e.g. 95%)

Keeping older people healthy and independent is our priority. What should be done to support this priority?

If three (3) things could be improved in health care for older people with complex care needs what would they be?

Carers play an important role in supporting many people who are ageing. What is working well to support carers? What could be improved for carers?

There were 70 respondents in total, noting one of these was invalid as no answers to the questions were provided. Of the respondents 70 per cent identified as an older person. More than 24 per cent of respondents stated that they look after an older family member or friend in an unpaid or informal capacity, and less than three per cent were paid carers working for an organisation.

More than 40 respondents identified a willingness to be involved in future consultation by providing their contact details.

Older Persons’ Health Services Plan: Summary of online survey consultation

Metro North Hospital and Health Service and Brisbane North PHN have developed a new five year healthcare plan for older people which will guide the way we deliver healthcare services to this group of people in our community. It is not the last word, but a document that will allow the vision to expand and grow.

Thank you for your support