People Partner – Zoe Fernance

19 May 2025

Around fifteen years ago, a series of family health issues led Zoe Fernance to leave her career behind and become an advocate for her family when accessing healthcare.

"I was caring and advocating for people with English as a second language," she recalled.

"This opened my eyes to the difficulties people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities face when accessing healthcare."

Zoe is now a consumer representative across local, state and national health consumer representative committees and working groups, including the Clinical Excellence Commission's (CEC) panel of People Partners.

The People Partners are a fundamental support to building and strengthening relationships between the people who use the NSW Health system and those who work within it, providing a platform for the voices of patients, families and carers from diverse backgrounds with varying experiences of the health system.

Zoe shares her perspective as a healthcare consumer representative in many different forums and on a wide variety of issues. This includes a research project on serious incident investigation and management and is constantly asking questions to improve experiences for patients engaging with healthcare information and services, such as how patients can access relevant and up to date information and how can the quality of food received during a hospital stay be improved.

"Sometimes I see patient information that is pretty complex," Zoe said.

"This can be overwhelming for patients, carers and families.

"Information needs to be readable and accessible for all patients. Understanding health information can be hard. If language is a barrier, shared decision-making and informed consent are even harder."

As part of her advocacy, Zoe also highlights the importance of using Accredited Health Interpreter Services after experiences where family and friends are the language link between a patient and their treating team, faced with pressure and expectation to make accurate translations to inform sometimes life and death decisions.

"Relying on a family member or friend to translate has its problems. They may not be able to translate the information accurately, and knowing the importance of getting the translation right can add to the stress in this already stressful time."

This has driven Zoe's passion for ensuring the voices of diverse communities and people are heard.

"The health system needs to be for everyone, including people who have English as a second language, those with low literacy & health literacy, and those with low or no digital literacy and access. The system must ensure that no one is left behind as it forges ahead with technology and the digital space.” she said.

"I am encouraged by the willingness of NSW Health to engage with consumers, patients, carers and families to improve services, care, experiences and outcomes for all patients."

Zoe Fernance, CEC People Partner