HaDSCO Connect: October 2013
Annual Report 2012-13
Mental Health Week activities 6 – 13 October 2013
Carers Week Expo 2013
Case Study
Launch of online engagement tool
2013 Medication Safety Symposium
Upcoming events
Annual Report 2012-13
This month saw the launch of the HaDSCO Annual Report 2012-13, following its tabling in Parliament on 25 September.
As one of the most comprehensive reports that we produce, this year’s report provides a valuable opportunity to look at how we have contributed to the improvement of health and disability services in Western Australia over the past year.
2012-13 marked the first year in the delivery of the HaDSCO Strategic Plan 2012-15, which is reflected in the reporting style throughout. Centred on our vision of: ‘empowering users and providers to collaboratively improve health and disability services’, the annual report looks at our performance against each of the five strategic goals contained within the plan, as we strive to achieve our agreed vision. These include:
- System Improvement
- Empowerment and Education
- Quality Complaints Management
- Building Staff Capacity
- Effective Resource Management
Key highlights for each of these sections are included as a snapshot for the year, providing clear indications of where we are headed as we move into the new financial year.
There are a number of notable achievement s contained within the report related to service delivery and system improvements. One that we are particularly proud of is that during 2012-13 we worked with health and disability service providers to identify and follow up 78 service recommendations. This was made possible through the recommendations received during the complaints resolution process and the cooperation of providers to focus on opportunities to implement system improvements.
Further information on our activities from 2012-13 are included in the report, which we hope you will enjoy reading. Additionally, HaDSCO Director Anne Donaldson delivered an introduction to the annual report via video, which can be viewed with captions, and is available to view now online.
If you have any comments or feedback regarding the annual report please contact a member of the Communications Team on (08) 6551 7620, or by emailing us.
Mental Health Week activities 6 – 13 October 2013
Turn Blue 4 a Day
As part of the Mental Health Week celebrations HaDSCO worked with a number of mental health service agencies to promote the ‘Turn Blue 4 a Day’ initiative on 10 October 2013 - World Mental Health Day.
Led by the Western Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH), agencies from across the mental health service sector lent a helping hand in promoting the services and support networks currently available to mental health service users and their families.
HaDSCO volunteers, along with others from the Mental Health Commission, the Mental Illness Fellowship of WA and Arafmi Mental Health Carers and Friends Association amongst many others, donned blue on the day to show their support. The day provided countless opportunities to speak with people firsthand about their experiences of mental health and enabled us to further promote the work that we do.
HaDSCO specific information packs were prepared for distribution during the day and staff helped to man the information marquee and assist with any queries or questions from members of the public.
‘Celebrate, Connect, Grow’ West Australian suppliment
In line with HaDSCO’s increased focus on mental health, we are continually looking into appropriate methods for reaching mental health users, including their families and carers.
To coincide with Mental Health Week, HaDSCO was featured in a special edition mental health supplement - ‘Celebrate, Connect, Grow’ included in the West Australian on 4 October. We used this opportunity to invite mental health service users to attend an open forum on 20 November, further details of which are provided in the upcoming events section.
Carers Week Expo 2013
HaDSCO returned to this year’s Carers Week Expo held on Thursday 17 October at the Cannington Exhibition Centre in Perth. With over 40 services providers confirmed at the event and approximately 200 carers in attendance, the conference provided a great opportunity to discuss the experiences of carers in both health and disability service sectors and gain valuable feedback on our services.
Often carers do not receive the recognition that they deserve and many do not even recognise their carer status, which is why events such as this play an important part in promoting the role and scope of carers, by bringing people from across the sector together. Forming part of the Carers Week celebrations running from 13-19 October, the Carers Week Expo facilitated this by bringing together carers from across Western Australia.
With an estimated 310,000 family carers living in Western Australia alone, it is essential we ensure their needs and concerns are appropriately addressed and that they are aware of the services available.
Members of HaDSCO’s Complaint Management Team will be on hand to answer any questions or concerns and to help support and celebrate in the great work of carers from across the State.
For further information please visit the Carers WA website.
Case Study
With this week being Carers Week we thought it would be useful to include a carer specific case study.
Carers may make a complaint to HaDSCO about a health or disability service provider on the behalf of the person for whom they provide care. HaDSCO can also take complaints about health and disability service providers if it is alleged that they did not comply with the Carers Charter, as described in the Carers Recognition Act 2004.
Recently we assisted a provider to improve the process of recognising carers in patient treatment plans. A case study is below:
Mrs A was not born in Australia and speaks English poorly. Her daughter, Mrs C had been appointed as her Enduring Guardian and is considered the legal decision maker in regard to her mother’s health and treatment. There had been several instances whereby Mrs C had not been allowed to accompany her mother into the emergency department.
In this case HaDSCO recommended that the Hospital review its policies about managing patients with carers and/or appointed enduring guardians. The Hospital has completed this review and provided HaDSCO with an updated version of the policy.
Please contact HaDSCO on 6551 7600 or visit our dedicated carers section on our website.
Launch of online engagement tool
HaDSCO is currently developing an online engagement tool for health and disability service providers. The online engagement website will share complaint data and trends and provide useful resources for providers to effectively handle complaints.
If you are interested in being updated about the progress of this site please contact (08) 6551 7620 or email us.
2013 Medication Safety Symposium
HaDSCO Medical Practitioner Dr Eric Khong, along with HaDSCO Director Anne Donaldson recently presented at the 2013 Medication Safety Symposium on 24 September. The symposium, titled ‘Medication safety – sharing the experience’ examined data and trends in relation to complaints about medication, received by our Office during 2009-2013.
By understanding the nature of these complaints and identifying trends, we are able to work with healthcare providers to formulate strategies to reduce the prevalence of medication related complaints.
A copy of the presentation can be found here.
Upcoming events
Looking forwards there are a number of key events over the coming months that HaDSCO will be actively involved with. These include:
Mental Health Forum
On Wednesday 20 November 2013 HaDSCO will be hosting a Mental Health Service Complaints Forum to better understand consumer experiences of making a complaint about mental health services.
We remain committed to improving service delivery within Western Australia and as such, we would like to get some valuable feedback from those people who have accessed mental health services and in particular associated complaints, to better understand their experiences.
As such, HaDSCO is inviting mental health service users, their families and carers, to participate in an open forum. The forum will provide the opportunity to talk honestly and openly about experiences of making a complaint about mental health services.
We placed an advert in the mental health supplement – ‘Celebrate, Connect, Grow’ published on 4 October 2013 in the West Australian as part of the Mental Health Week celebrations, but we still have a few remaining spaces available.
Therefore, if you are interested in participating please phone HaDSCO on (08) 6551 7620 or email us.
All attendees must be registered, which can be done by contacting HaDSCO on the number provided.
For further information our website.
Youth Health Conference
The Australian Association for Adolescent Health (AAAH) is hosting the 2013 National Youth Health Conference in Fremantle from 13-15 November.
HaDSCO will be exhibiting at the event to ensure that the youth sector have contemporary methods available to them to engage with us and are aware of our services.
For more information or to register your attendance please visit the Youth Health Conference website.
Regional Access and Awareness Program
HaDSCO’s services are available to people throughout Western Australia, covering a mix of both metropolitan and regional areas. Reaching people in regional areas has its own set of challenges in terms of access and resources, so each year in partnership with the Ombudsman, we take part in the Regional Access and Awareness Program to better engage with consumers and providers in these areas.
The program provides a great opportunity for a range of representatives to visit communities that we otherwise would not get direct access to. It enables us to build and strengthen relationships with community groups and service users and help promote the work of HaDSCO.
This year the program will run from Wednesday 6 – Friday 8 November at various venues across Kununurra and Wyndham. Representatives from the Western Australian Ombudsman, Energy Ombudsman and HaDSCO will be in attendance at a number of complaint clinics and on hand to answer any questions or concerns. If you are interested in attending please contact the Ombudsman on 1800 117 000 or send them an email.
