The Power to drive change: Working together for excellence. Creating a continuously improving consumer engagement...

The World Health Organization has acknowledged Patient Safety while receiving hospital care as a serious global public health issue, with patient empowerment and community engagement key to continuously improving safety and quality of care for the best possible clinical and patient outcomes. In Australia, the introduction of ten mandatory National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards in 2011 provided the catalyst for all Australian health facilities to review their systems. Standard 2: Partnering with Consumers required health facilities across Australia to assess commitment to, and capacity for consumer and community engagement and participation. At this time, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital did not have a strategic perspective and understanding, or an organizational structure for engaging with consumers (patients, families, care givers and community members). The concept required a new model to replace the clinician-led model of healthcare historically featured in Australia, with a change in culture and core business. processes to partner with consumers at all levels of the system, from individual patient care through to participating in policy development, health service planning and delivery, and evaluation and measurement processes. The challenge for the hospital was to build a sustainable framework of engagement for a genuine patient-centered model of care informed by best practice, and provide leadership and commitment to developing as an area of excellence in patient engagement and experience. A successful and sustainable framework for consumer and community engagement has been embedded in the hospital, with resultant culture change, achieving accreditation across all core and developmental criteria for the partnering with consumer standards including several Met with Merit ratings.