Our consumers
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- We use the term ‘consumers’ to describe the children and adolescents with cancer that we treat, their immediate and extended families and social networks.
- There are a range of other internal and external consumers of our services including philanthropic organisations, children’s cancer community charities, regional providers, specialist providers such as Peter Mac and others. We will seek to engage effectively with these groups to benefit children and families.
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The former group are the primary focus of this policy.
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Values
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Our approach to consumer participation is underpinned by the following values:
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- We value the unique and common experiences of children / adolescents with cancer and their families and the expertise that comes from these experiences.
- We actively seek to draw upon consumer expertise for the provision of input into both individual care and broader service development in a variety of ways.
- We will listen to our consumers and work to build open dialogue within a culture of mutual respect and trust.
- We acknowledge that in the process of actively involving consumers we will face challenges and will not always be able to resolve differences. We will face these challenges openly and will acknowledge and respect ongoing differences.
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Policy
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- The Children’s Cancer Centre(s) is committed to providing high quality care for our diverse population of children and adolescents with cancer and their families.
- Our work recognises and aligns with the relevant whole-of-service approaches to consumer participation and actively supports the service-wide Consumer / Family Charter(s) of Rights and Responsibilities.
- Within a family-centred framework, we work in partnership with consumers in guiding and supporting the clinical and psychosocial care of each child and adolescent with cancer whom we treat and their families.
- We actively encourage and seek feedback from children / adolescents, their families and their communities to inform areas for improvement and to assist us in continual improvement of the services we provide.
- We incorporate active consumer involvement into our formal service planning and decision making processes.
- At a service development and planning level, we engage with consumers to develop family-centred policies and practices and to build effective and diverse mechanisms for consumer participation over time.
- We will train, support and develop the capacity of consumers to facilitate their active participation in a range of activities designed to inform service improvement and planning.
- We will also train, support and develop the capacity of our staff to promote adherence to this policy and underpinning values and to work effectively with consumers to enhance service improvement and planning.
- We will ensure that we actively respond to consumer feedback and have consumer advisory mechanisms that are clearly linked with the decision-making processes within the Children’s Cancer Centre (s) and within the wider health service.
- In all instances we will act responsively and in an accountable and transparent way.
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