Information about the role of consumer and carer representatives at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and how to become involved.
What is a consumer representative?
'Consumer representative' is the term we use to describe people from the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) community who we consult with on decisions, plans and improvements to our health service. They include people who currently use our health services (patients, consumers and their carers and families), as well as community members who may need to in the future.
Our consumer representatives use their patient, carer or community perspective to help us to:
- make decisions, improvements and changes to our services
- review our quality, safety and patient experience
- help with staff and volunteer training and recruitment
What our consumer representatives do
As a consumer representative you may:
- Complete interviews or surveys
- Share your ‘patient story’ and your experience of being in the hospital
- Review patient information, such as brochures
- Participate in focus groups
- Help to gather patient feedback or audits of quality measures
- Attend our annual Community Board Meeting
- Join a working group or a committee (these are often monthly meetings)
Some of our consumer representatives are also part of our Community Advisory Committee (CAC).
How to become a consumer or carer representative
If you would like to become a consumer, carer or community representative of the RMH, complete our online application form:
As a consumer representative we ask that you complete:
- mandatory training
- a police check
- a confidentiality agreement
This will be arranged with you by the Community Engagement Manager.
Participation is voluntary and you can choose to exit the program at any time.
Contact Consumer and Carer Participation at consumercarerparticipation@mh.org.au for more information.
Why become a consumer representative?
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
- Newsletters and publications about activities and programs at the RMH
Why we partner with consumers and carers
Consumer representatives are help us to keep the perspective of patients, carers and their families central to what we do.
They allow us to see things from a different perspective and understand what is important to our people so we can deliver care that meets the needs of our community.
Our evidence has shown that these partnerships improve patient health outcomes, including through:
- lower chance of readmission
- reduced hospital-acquired infection
- higher level of function for patients
- more effective preventive health care
The impact of our consumer representatives
Below are some examples of how consumer representatives have had an impact on what we do.
Consumer representatives worked with staff to design the new electronic check-in machines that patients use when they arrive for an appointment.
Past patients have been invited to be part of interview panels for staff, provide perspective on the recruitment process and influence hiring decisions.
A focus group with current and past patients gave feedback and influenced changes to the information given to patients at discharge about their medications.
Patients, consumers, carers and community members helped codesign our RMH Community Engagement Strategy ‘All in This Together’ through workshops, interviews and surveys.
Our organisational action plans, such as the RMH Disability Action Plan, are created in collaboration with consumer and community representatives.
Our Emergency Department wait times dashboard was designed and developed in consultation with consumer and community representatives.
We love to tell patient stories at the RMH. They help us remember what it is like to be a patient in hospital and reflect on both the good and bad experiences that patients have while in our care.
There are many examples where having a patient share their own story has been a great opportunity for us to think about opportunities for improvement.
If you have a story to tell, please give us feedback.