How can we improve the health care experience of our community?

The Panel health service user Director of Allied Health MNCLHD GP Clinical Engagement Advisor, MNC North Coast Primary Health Network Chief Executive Sydney Local Health District Dean Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney and Professor of Physiotherapy NDIS pilot site Newcastle Charles Sturt University Clinical services manager at Galambila Coffs Harbour) Raymond Bronwyn Chalker Gull Herzberg Teresa Anderson Kathryn Refshauge Suzanne Punshon Megan Smith Karl Briscoe

What do patients want? To be listened to The right services at the right time and place – Don’t know who to go to – Timely – Appropriate location Not to repeating their story – Appropriate information shared Respect for culture, knowledge and experience

Please listen to me I can access the best information from experts all over the world. Some [therapists] physios are happy to learn from this, but some aren’t. If we aren’t given all the choices, how can we make an informed decision? My husband has diabetes. I know more about it than any of his specialists. When the ambulance comes I can tell them everything they need to know. I know when it’s an emergency. Do they listen to me? No. I’ve had 9 therapists in 11 years because of putting me down to a lower level. The way they spoke to me. Speaking to me like I was at a lower level. It happened to me a lot, and I mean a lot of times. I will follow my therapist now to the ends of the earth. I don’t feel like I’m on a lower level. She treats you like 1:1 kind of person. She doesn’t dominate you. I have lived with my pain. I know what I can and can’t do. I am the expert on my health, not the therapist. Stop being the expert and be a collaborative coach

Better Service Coordination I didn’t know I could get help with equipment or transport. Another patient told me. I was discharged from hospital and my GP didn’t get any documentation. I had to tell her what happened and what I knew. Lucky I understood bits of it. When Dad was discharged from hospital, he couldn’t walk. No-one asked how we were getting him home or who would look after him. I see four different people for my mental health problem. The only reason they know what happens with the others is because I tell them. I would love a directory of services available in my area

Care I can access The podiatrist referred me for an MRI without telling me it would cost $300 more because they’re not a doctor In rural areas we’d get much better service if speechies would use telehealth Services only take kids so far then chop them off It’s great. My GP has a list of specialists who will bulk bill It is so handy being able to access my dietitian in the GP rooms. It means they’ve got access to my records too. It would be great to have more group therapy to lower the costs My friend in the city gets rehab every day. I have to travel an hour, and can only get it once a week. I had to wait 6 months to access rehab after hospital – I lost all the gains I’d made.

Respect my values & needs Maybe the speech pathologists at the hospital wouldn’t have given up on her so quickly if they’d understood the effects that being very ill can have on language development and learning generally I’m 90. If I can get onto the computer why can’t they. Save me 2 hours in the car! I am not my disease. I am a person. I want to be treated as a person first and have support to manage my illness. They need to understand the way we do things and why, and why we don’t turn up sometimes. There is so much kinship and sorry business that are our cultural responsibility We spend too much of our time at the hospital. My daughter, my family hate it. We need more culturally appropriate services for people from all ethnic backgrounds

Key messages What will we take away from this? What can we do better as a practitioner? What can we learn / improve on in our region? How can we improve our profession?