The Royal Women’s Hospital Community Advisory Committee advocates for the best interests of the women who come to the Women’s.
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Our role
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The Community Advisory Committee promotes improved outcomes for patients and the broader community through effective community participation in the hospital.
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The committee advises the hospital on establishing and maintaining effective systems to ensure that the health services provided meet the needs of the communities served by the hospital, and that the views of women are taken into account in the hospital’s decision making processes, in line with strategic directions.
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The committee meets these objectives through development and communication of a consumer perspective on hospital services and opportunities for improving the quality, safety, accessibility and appropriateness of services.
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The Community Advisory Committee is appointed by, and reports to, the Board of Directors of the Royal Women’s Hospital.
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The membership of the committee includes at least one Board member, no fewer than 7 and no more than 12 consumer and community members, and the Chief Executive, or her delegate.
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Responsibilities
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The Boards of hospitals, with the support of management, have a corporate responsibility under the Health Services Act for ensuring effective community participation.
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Broadly, these responsibilities include ensuring that:
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- Services meet the health needs of the target population of the hospital.
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- Systems are in place to promote and monitor the continual improvement of the quality of clinical services, and to enhance the safety of care.
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- There is community participation in these functions.
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- Clinical services are planned and delivered in partnership with other providers.
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The Women's values consumer participation and feedback and recognises that the consumer movement has become an increasingly important part of the hospital's service.
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Partnerships between hospitals and the community are more important than ever, and the Women's continues to develop its relationships with the community to ensure that:
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- There is regular, effective, targeted communication with communities of interest.
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- There are community and consumer advocacy programs within the Women's with a particular emphasis on the most disadvantaged and marginalised.
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- There is community participation in all major strategic service planning and development activities across the Women's.
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- There is ongoing community participation in quality improvement activities across the Women's.
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- There is evidence that community participation is embedded in organisational policies and processes.
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- There are organisational policies and strategies to facilitate consumers actively participating across the Women's.
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Links to other websites
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The following websites have further information about consumer participation within hospitals and other resources you may find of interest:
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- The Consumer Network (The Cochrane Collaboration)
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