|
Community Advisory Committee
of the Southern Health
Board
Terms of Reference
Background
Continuity of care and the patient journey are promoted as corner stones
of the development and delivery of services. In aiming to integrate diverse and
culturally inclusive consumer and community views at all levels of its
operation, Southern Health recognises that:
- participation of consumers in decision making about treatment and care
is a prerequisite to ensuring optimal, effective and high quality care;
- consumers require full information on treatment options, in order to
actively participate in their care;
- central to the well being of the community is the involvement of members
of the public in policy development and strategic planning;
- effective community and consumer participation requires commitment and
leadership from management;
- the commitment of staff is essential to successfully involving consumers
and the community in service planning and evaluation, and that training is
required to support staff in their commitment;
- internal policies and procedures must support and encourage consumers to
provide feedback as well as recognise cultural and language barriers faced
by the community and consumers;
- community and consumer participation requires adequate resources if it
is to be valuable and meaningful;
- community and consumer representatives who become involved in service
planning and evaluation require appropriate orientation, support and
training.
In recognising consumer and community participation, Southern Health will
engage the assistance of the Community Advisory Committee to address these
needs.
Role and Responsibilities
The role of the Committee will be to:
- Enable community participation by assisting the Board to appropriately
integrate consumer and community views at all levels of its operation.
- Advise the Board on strategies to enhance and promote consumer and
community participation at all levels, including the development,
implementation and monitoring of the strategic Community Participation Plan.
- Identify and advise the Board on priority areas and issues requiring
consumer and community participation.
- Participate in the health Service’s broad strategic planning and service
development processes.
- Assist the Board and the Executive in their communication with the
Health Service community and consumers.
- Assist with the development and monitoring of key performance indicators
for service quality and accessibility, in particular, the indicators of the
Annual Quality of Care Report.
- Undertake projects and activities as agreed with the Board.
- To advise the Board on governance, policy and strategy in relation to
community participation and its impact on health service outcomes.
Membership
The selection criteria for membership to the Community Advisory
Committee will be agreed by the Board. Membership will include:
- Between nine and fourteen people appointed by the Board.
- One Board member who satisfies the selection criteria.
- Community members who reflect perspectives of the communities served by
the Health Service and who are not appointed as representatives of specific
organisations.
- Applicants for Community Advisory Committee membership will be sought
through a range of strategies including nominations from peak community
bodies.
- Each term will be for a period of 2 or 3 years depending on the member’s
preference, with a maximum of 6 years. Members wishing to reapply for
another term will be considered equally with other applicants. Members who
have served 6 years and wish to reapply must have an intervening period of
12 months before they are eligible to reapply.
Reporting
The minutes, work plans and community participation plan of the
Community Advisory Committee will be provided to the Board on an ongoing basis
for ratification.
Meeting Frequency
- Bi-monthly meetings in accordance with the Community Advisory Committee
guidelines.
|
SH Strategic Policy |
Collaboration and Engagement |
ACHS Function |
Leadership and Management |
|
Reviewer |
Director, Primary Care |
Last review date |
2 November 2005 |
|
Authoriser |
Southern Health Board |
Next review date |
2 November 2007 |
| Home |
Committee Membership |
Community Participation Plan |
Strategies for Consumer & Community
Participation |
| Feedback | Other Resources
|
For further detail about the Community Advisory Committee,
or community and consumer participation email:
Linda.Pandita@southernhealth.org.au
|
To provide consumer feedback, complaints and compliments email :
feedback@southernhealth.org.au