In the lead up to Accreditation, Northern Health will focus on two Standards each week. You will hear from the Chair of each of the Standard Committees about the key points you need to know.

Today, we speak with Kathryn Bartho, Head of Operations CMO and Divisional Director NICHE, and Chair of Standard 2: Partnering with Consumers.

Northern Health is committed to delivering patient-centred care. Partnering with consumers is central to ensuring that our patients and their carers are at the core of all the work we do.

According to Kathryn, “Person‑centred care is built on genuine partnership with our patients, consumers, and the broader community. At Northern Health, these relationships – grounded in trust, mutual respect, and shared knowledge – are essential to delivering safe, high‑quality health outcomes.”

“Partnering with consumers matters because the people who experience our services are best placed to inform how those services should be designed, delivered, and improved.”

What is this standard about?

Standard 2 – Partnering with Consumers Standard aims to create a health service in which there are mutually beneficial outcomes by having:

• Consumers as partners in planning, design, delivery, measurement and evaluation of systems and services.
• Patients as partners in their own care, to the extent that they choose.

This standard is about partnering with consumers at all levels of our work.

At a direct care level, it is about Shared Decision Making, that is getting to know your patients and their preferences and values, meeting their needs and providing them with information that they can understand and use to make decisions about their care and to consent to treatment.

At a service and system level, it is about listening to the voices of our patients and their carers and involving them in the work we do to improve our services. The information received from the Northern Health patient survey and feedback data provides opportunities for service improvement at the local level and organisational level.

At Northern Health, this standard looks like….

Patient Centred care for best outcomes: https://inews.nh.org.au/2023/03/shared-decision-making-how-partnering-with-consumers-creates-best-outcomes/

Our Consumer Network:

Patients are encouraged to become Consumer representatives and support Northern Health in different areas.

The patient journey: feedback data is always helpful to improve our patients experience and informs a variety of projects such as the Emergency Department redevelopment, Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, and expansion of Community Hospitals with additional services at Craigieburn Health Service and the newly opened and established Mernda Community Hospital.

Building and infrastructure: consumer input has influenced the design of our new Community Hospitals, opened in 2025, as well as inputting to our future capital developments with the Ambulatory Care Centre and the Emergency Department redevelopment.

Developing our second innovative Reconciliation Action Plan: many of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partners have made a significant contribution to the development of the plan including what is important to the Aboriginal community.

Our publications: the CLEAR group (consumer group) provides feedback on the patient information Northern Health produces so that they get the consumer tick of approval that they are written in language our community can understand.

Developing our staff: consumers have presented their stories and experiences at training sessions such as the Safe Practice Forum and Refugee and Asylum Seeker Study Day. Consumer stories are a very important part of our Partnering with Consumers Clinical Improvement Committee.

These examples show the impact of partnering with the consumers on our Consumer Network or the consumers who receive care in a local service:

What are the top six ways staff can be prepared for Accreditation against this Standard?

1. Involve your patients and their carers in goal setting and care planning – click here for an animation about Shared Decision Making
2. Ask the patient what matters to them, what is their goal for the day and document this on the bedside communication board.
3. Identify the substitute Medical Treatment Decision Maker if a patient does not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves – click here for how to ask (or visit https://intranet.nh.org.au/departments-and-services/advance-care-planning/brochures-forms-documentation/)
4. Explain their Rights and Responsibilities and provide a patient information brochure.
5. Check that your patient understands the information you are providing and encourage patients to provide feedback and act to resolve any problems while they are in your care
6. Wear your name badge and introduce yourself.

What are the top five questions staff needs to be able to answer about this Standard?

1. When should a patient be provided with Northern Health’s Healthcare Rights and Responsibilities?
2. How do you partner with patients and carers in care planning and treatment decisions?
3. What do you do if a patient is at risk of not understanding the information you are providing to them?
4. How would you respond to a patient who was dissatisfied with their care?
5. How is Northern Health partnering with consumers in activities to improve our services?

Northern Health’s ‘Partnering with Consumers Plan’ is a valuable source of information and can be accessed here.

Click here to learn more about Standard 2: Partnering with Consumers.