Consumer engagement in health services in Queensland, Australia: A qualitative study about perspectives of engaged consumers

Abstract

Successive health policies demonstrate unwavering commitment to partnering with consumers and communities. However, engaging consumers is complex and replete with priorities, perspectives and values that are firmly held, virtuous and different. In the context of political imperatives and different approaches to partnering with consumers in health services, we sought to explore consumers' experiences of engagement in public, private, primary care and non-government health services in Queensland, Australia. Participants identified themselves as consumers of health services and were currently, or had previously been, involved in planning, designing, delivering, monitoring and/or evaluating health services; were aged over 18 and consented to being involved. This qualitative study used semi-structured individual interviews to collect data which were analysed thematically. Four themes were identified, (a) authentic engagement and representation: asking, listening and acknowledging; (b) a continuum of consumer expertise; (c) contested engagement: transgressing health services thresholds of tolerance and (d) creating value for consumers and health services: reciprocity, trust, respect and remuneration. Findings demonstrated that 'rules of engagement' exist between consumers and staff employed in clinical, managerial, executive and administrative positions within health services in response to a legislated requirement that health services partner with consumers. The rules of consumer engagement centred on authenticity, transparency, expertise and individual capacity to transcend personal experience. If health services and the broader public are to fully benefit from safety and quality advances proposed by partnering with consumers, then it is essential that areas of contestation are identified and addressed.

Reimagining consumer involvement: Resilient system indicators in the COVID‐19 pandemic response in New South Wales, Australia

“…Where active consumer participation was maintained, it was due to individual leaders or 'champions' in health services, rather than a systemic trend. This 'traditional' hierarchy of consumer participation, or what Ehlrich et al 48 describe as 'rules of engagement', is reflected by the fact that consumer representatives were willing to step back and allow health services and clinician groups to respond to the crisis at its peak. Consumer representatives were willing to occupy the lower end of the participation spectrum during an exceptional crisis when it was perceived to be a short-term emergency response.…”

Patient and Caregiver-Derived Health Service Improvements for Better Critical Care Recovery

“…Further, such interventions are often designed from the perspective of the health professionals only (10) and are often complex interventions (22). Given the costs and limitations of RCTs (23), and known delays to research translation, our findings suggest that making small, co-designed incremental improvements to the quality of care is a potentially more effective and impactful strategy to improve post-ICU outcomes (24, 25). A competing tension, however, is that adopting disparate, fragmented approaches could further contribute to health inequities.…”

Community input in a genomic health implementation program: Perspectives of a community advisory group

“…There is debate over the level of experience CAG participants should have when recruited (Saunders et al, 2007;Synnot et al, 2018;Ehrlich et al, 2020). Engaging with consumers and community members with no experience in CCE or CAGs is thought to mitigate bias and improve equity of participation (Synnot et al, 2018).…”