People partners and Clinical Excellence Commission connecting to improve healthcare safety
27 October 2023
On October 19, the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) ‘People Partners’ healthcare consumer representatives met with the CEC staff, Executive and Board to share their experience and to connect. A diverse group of around 15 people with lived and living experience as patients, family, carers and loved ones, the People Partners are core to how the CEC improves safety and quality in healthcare delivery.
Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) Chief Executive Adj Prof Michael Nicholl said we need to move away from the rigid view of safety – just preventing harm.
"Safety is providing care and compassion put into the context of individuals with their family and their circumstances.
"The People Partners are important to us as an organisation. Without them, our work on safety wouldn’t be possible," he said.
Away from the TLAs – Three Letter Acronyms
The People Partners are diverse, just like the NSW community. They gave perspectives of people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, talked about resource accessibility and plain English, and removing the use of jargon.
"Eliminate your TLAs – Three Letter Acronyms," said People Partner Brigitte Sigl.
The value of listening was a recurring theme.
"Learn to listen and learn to hear," said People Partner James Butler.
"Our son was critically ill with sepsis and has survived," said People Partner Simone McCarthy.
"Now as a People Partner, I am asked lots of questions about my perspective. If our family’s story can help just one person, then that’s important. It is so valuable to have the consumer voice heard," she said.
People Partners are part of the way the CEC does its work
Teams from the CEC presented a wide range of initiatives to give an idea of the breadth of collaboration. The Blood Watch program identifies and addresses risk related to blood transfusion practice. The Medical Device Governance Program is an important, multi-year initiative to support the tracking of implantable devices, important if there is a safety and quality issue.
Principal Lead, Research, Evaluation and Knowledge, Evette Buono told of the role of consumers in healthcare research. The CEC is a partner on 26 research projects led by research institutes, universities and local health districts. Research funders are increasingly looking for consumer involvement and People Partners in research.
"Consumers are important partners in healthcare research projects, said Evette.
"They bring a lot of insights and value. Involving consumers in the design prevents waste – they can identify if the research has little benefit to consumers and is unlikely to be used," she said.
The People Partners and Clinical Excellence Commission teams.