Welcome to the Metro South Health Consultation Hub

Metro South Health Strategy and Planning recently invited consumer advisors, staff and external partners for feedback on a draft package of our ‘Partnering Together’ strategies, made up of the Person-Centred Commitment, the Person-Centred Care Strategy, the Clinician Engagement Strategy and the Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy.

Opportunities to share your thoughts and feedback were sought via an online survey.

Overall the documents were easy to understand but there is room for  improvement. You said:

General feedback

• We need to use language that can be understood by everyone, this includes removing long sentences.
• You felt the drafts still read like formal policy documents (including language and structure).
• You prefer a short 1-2-page summary rather than a longer formal document.
• You want us to make it clear how the strategies will be implemented.
• You prefer to have less strategies and integrate the content more (i.e. Person-Centred Commitment, Person-Centred Strategy and the Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy).
• You like the inclusion of visual elements to break up the text and to reduce copy.
• You noted some grammatical, typographical and formatting errors that were contained in the draft documents.

Person-Centred Commitment & Person-Centred Care Strategy 

Note feedback is combined below, as was applicable to both strategies overall.

• You felt the figures could be made clearer in description and design format.
• You would like to see the content be revised to remove duplication.
• You liked the four guiding ‘Partnering Principles’.

Clinician Engagement Strategy &

Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy

Note feedback is combined below, as was applicable to both strategies overall.

• You do not like the terms:
  • ‘citizen’ - as a reference to ‘the community’ or ‘community members’ and
  • ‘community institutions’ – as a reference to ‘community partner organisations’.
• You wanted a specific reference to be included for ‘addition and mental health’ when describing our facilities under ‘Our services, our community’, sections.
• You wanted us to include reference to the ‘Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Clinical Network’ under the Clinical Council section in the Clinician Engagement Strategy.
• You wanted infrastructure to be specifically included within the ‘Our future’ section. As you noted we will be undergoing significant redevelopment and infrastructure projects in the next 15 years.  
• You want us to be clear on our measures of success and not mix these with actions.
• You liked the three ‘Priority areas’ and what we will do within the engagement strategies and noted these were practical.

 Clarifications

• You asked for clarification on the use of the terms; ‘patient’ vs ‘consumer’, as referenced within the strategies. In the context of these strategies, we provide the following definitions:
  • Patient – is person who is accessing the health services.
  • Consumer – is a person who use or is a potential user of health services and includes family, carers, care partners and communities.
  • Consumer Advisor- is a person who has taken up a specific role to share their lived experience, with the overall aim of improving healthcare. A consumer advisor is someone who voices their individual perspectives and takes part in organisational decision making, in the planning, design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the health service.

• You asked for clarification on the use of the term ‘clinician ‘vs ‘healthcare staff’ within the Clinician Engagement Strategy.
  • The Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 (Section 40) requires Metro South Health develop and publish a Clinician Engagement Strategy to promote consultation with health professionals working in the Service. Based on feedback from clinicians and consumer advisors we use ‘healthcare staff’ with the intent to be more inclusive than ‘clinician’. Further feedback received was that ‘clinicians’ is not clear to all staff with some having the perception that it refers specifically to doctors.       
• You asked for clarification on the use of the term ‘we’ within the draft documents.
  • ‘We’ has been used as a reference to Metro South Health. This was incorporated to reflect feedback to read it less like a policy document with a warmer and more conversational tone.  
• You asked for clarification on the use of acronyms within strategies (i.e. why MSH was not used to reduce words).
  • In line with feedback regarding clear language, acronyms were avoided (including ‘MSH’ in lieu of Metro South Health).  
• You requested clarification on the wording of the Acknowledgment of Country.
  • The current draft text is endorsed and reflects the copy as displayed on the Metro South Health website (metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/).
• You proposed changes to the new Metro South Health organisational values ICARE².

We confirm the ICARE² values are endorsed by our executives, with artwork being developed for future roll out. As this stage, Metro South Health are not looking to make adjustments to these.  

• We combined the content of the Person-Centred Commitment, Person-Centred Strategy and the Consumer and Community Engagement Strategy into a single revised document titled – Person-Centred Care Strategy 2020-2024, Partnering with consumers, the community and staff for excellence in healthcare.
• In line with your feedback we restructured the document with the intent to improve the flow, changes include:
  • The ‘Glossary’ sections being repositioned to the rear of the document, with additional definitions
  • The ‘Introduction’ sections incorporated previous sections of the ‘Key components of engagement’
  • We simplified the ‘Purpose’ section, whilst incorporating the content from the ‘Topics of engagement’
  • The ‘Priority areas’ section is re-titled to ‘Priorities’ and we simplified the ‘Measures of success’ section to align with the key desired outcomes
  • The ‘Measurement’ section was simplified to link the published outcomes be as per the revised ‘Measures of Success’
  • We revised the Strategy Forewords.
• Your feedback was incorporated into revised drafts of the Person-Centred Care Strategy and the Clinician Engagement Strategy which have been circulated for executive review and endorsement.

What's to Come?

Once the draft content from these strategies have received executive endorsement, we will develop the following, for each:

• A 1-2-page summary version – as a quick reference for staff and consumers
• A detailed Implementation Plan, with clear responsibilities and associated timings for each activity
• Supporting resources and tools to more effectively encourage engagement and participation in the future with Metro South Health, and each other, about health services planning
• Develop final artwork and visual elements for all documents.

The dates for launch are under review in consideration of the impact of COVID-19 and timing of executive endorsement.

For more information – please contact Matthew McCabe, Principal Engagement Officer, Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, Metro South Health Strategy and Planning  via email at: metro_south_engagement@health.qld.gov.au

Metro South Health Strategy and Planning recently asked for your feedback on Clinician Engagement. Opportunities to share your thoughts, insights and experience were sought via an online survey, workshops and interviews.

We could be doing better and there is room for improvement. You said:

About the ‘strategy’ document

• We need to use language that can be understood by everyone.
• You prefer a short 1-2-page summary as a reference rather than a large formal document.
• You want us to provide supporting materials to help you action the strategy.
• We need to increase awareness of engagement initiatives and supporting resources.

Your ‘engagement’ expectations

• Engagement pathways need to be simple, easy, more frequent and more inclusive (including frontline staff). Current pathways are difficult to navigate, you do not know who to speak to and how to access decision makers.
• You do not want engagement limited to top-down, on a need to know basis with the same set of people (i.e. targeted at the Executive / management level).
• You want to see the Metro South Health Senior Leadership Team at your facility / department and have opportunities to talk to them. 
• You want transparency in decision making and you want to understand how decisions are made, with clear accountability in our people and our system.
• You want proactive and relevant messages, that utilise our existing range of communication channels to better reach you (i.e. staff forums, events etc), rather than relying on all-staff broadcast emails.
• You want feedback on decisions made and what’s to come next.

Support we can offer to reduce engagement challenges  

• We need to better support you to find the time to be involved in relevant engagement initiatives. 
• We need to bridge the gap, where facilities feel siloed and disconnected with each other.
• We need to ensure community health service clinicians are part of engagement activities. 
• We need to develop relationships and visit you so there are opportunities for discussion on matters that are best discussed in person.
• You note middle management is the critical point for information sharing for both above and below levels, having outcomes dependent on their understanding and transfer of information. We need to provide more support and guidance to our middle managers.
   

About future engagement process improvements recommendations

• You recommend this strategy be for all staff, rather than exclusively for clinicians.
• You want opportunities to bring you together to develop understanding of the different people and roles throughout our health service (hospitals and community services).
• You recommend we be more proactive in the timing/sequencing of initiatives to ensure all relevant staff can participate, one example is for our junior medical staff be consulted (in line with the rest of the organisation) prior to the end of their rolling contracts.
• You recommend a cultural shift for how clinicians should see themselves as part of the wider health service, outside of their specific department/facility – based on the consumer journey through health care and recognising the continual care ongoing in the community.
• You want increased training / education for decision making at the organisational level (topics include management, continuous improvement and business literacy).
• You suggest we develop personas to assist relating to and understanding of the diversity of our workforce throughout our health service (hospitals and community services).
• You suggest we could do better by centralising certain functions, having facilities working together in partnership (topics include health and safety).

Your feedback will be incorporated into the new Clinician Engagement Strategy, a detailed Action Plan, as well as supporting resources and tools to more effectively encourage your engagement and participation in the future with Metro South Health, and each other, about health services planning.

What’s to come?

Metro South Health Strategy and Planning will develop a new draft Clinician Engagement Strategy, a detailed Action Plan and supporting resources based on your feedback and contemporary evidence-based literature.

You will continue to be involved in conversations about our progress over the coming period, prior to the launch of the new Clinician Engagement Strategy. The dates are currently under review in consideration of the resources and impact of COVID-19.

For more information – please contact Matthew McCabe, Principal Engagement Officer, Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, Metro South Health Strategy and Planning  via email at: metro_south_engagement@health.qld.gov.au

Metro South Health Strategy and Planning recently asked for your feedback about a draft of the Metro South Health People Charter.

The People Charter outlines our commitment to improve healthcare together – with our workforce, consumers, carers, the community and our partners. It also connects our new ‘Improving Healthcare Together’ strategies, that will be released by end of 2020.

You said you generally agreed the document was easy to understand, however you suggested the following changes to the draft People Charter. You said:

• Use language that is understood by everyone and remove jargon.
• Ensure the document is accessible for people that speak other languages, including translations being available.
• Remove the complex Metro South Health integrated planning framework diagram.
• Expressly state the purpose of the document.
• Rename the document to remove the word “charter”.

Your feedback will be incorporated into a revised draft People Charter that will be prepared for Executive review and feedback.

What’s to come?

Metro South Health Strategy and Planning will develop a revised People Charter with supporting artwork and seek executive endorsement.   

The date for a proposed launch is currently under review in consideration of resources and impact of COVID-10.

For more information - Contact Matthew McCabe, Principal Engagement Officer, Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, Metro South Health Strategy and Planning via email at: metro_south_engagement@health.qld.gov.au