Become a consumer representative

Consumer representatives are people who provide Joondalup Health Campus with a patient, carer and / or community perspective to assist the hospital in decision-making, service planning and improvement.

These include people who currently use our health services such as patients, consumers and their carers and families. They may also include community members who are likely to need to use the hospital in the future.

What does a consumer representative do?

Consumer representatives help in many ways, including:

• Reviewing and providing feedback on patient information
• Providing feedback to the hospital about planned improvements and changes in how we provide services
• being part of our discussions on quality, safety and patient experience
• Seeking feedback from people in the community and in the hospital that will be considered by the hospital to ensure appropriate access to health care

What would it involve?

As a consumer representative you may get involved by:

• Joining a committee (these are often monthly meetings)
• Joining the hospital’s patient experience sub-committee
• sharing your ‘patient story’ – your experience of being in the hospital
• participating in focus groups
• assisting with gathering patient feedback
• opportunities to assist with staff training/ education by using their own hospital or lived experience as a learning tool. Examples of this might be:
  • Poor communication between staff members that left you feeling confused/ frighted or unsure of your treatment – you want to explain how that could have been made easier for you and your family
  • A process that happens during your time as a patient that you feel could do with some improvement
  • Familiarity with the use of equipment as a patient – like hoists and explain what assistance and explanations by staff helped or hindered the experience
  • Living with dementia/ mobility issues/ chronic disease processes

How to become a consumer representative

Complete the consumer representative expression of interest application form and we will get in touch with you.

Our process involves a short interview and then, if you are selected, we may ask that you complete mandatory training, a police check and a sign a confidentiality agreement.

Remuneration is provided for out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of parking.

Why be involved?

Being a consumer or carer representative can give you the opportunity to be part of a healthcare team and help to improve the services we provide.

To support you in this role we will provide you with regular updates such as:

• opportunities to be involved as a consumer representative
• training and education relevant to your role
• opportunities to meet with other consumer representatives for networking and support

Why we value consumer insights

Consumer representatives are highly valued by Joondalup Health Campus because they provide insights that help us focus our service on what matters most to the patient and their family / carer.

We use consumer insights to understand what is important to our community so we can shape our service to help that meet community needs and expectations.