Doing it with us not for us: Participation policy 2006-09

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Introduction

The Doing it with us not for us – Participation in your health service system 2006–09: Victorian consumers, carers and the community working together with their health services and the Department of Human Services policy (the ‘Doing it with us not for us participation policy’) grew from:

• the Victorian Government’s commitment to involving people in decision making about health care services
• the value placed on consumer, carer and community participation
• the identified need for a strategic policy to guide the process (Department of Human Services 2005).

As identified in the "Consultation paper - Participation in your health service system: Victorian consumers, carers and the community working together with their health service and the Department of Human Services" (the ‘consultation paper’), participation in health is an essential principle of:

• health development
• community capacity building
• the development of social capital (Kahssay & Oakley 1999: Department of Human Services 2005).

In particular, it is an enabling strategy for working with and meeting the health needs of those community members who are most socially and economically disadvantaged (Victorian Government November 2001; Consumer Focus Collaboration 2001). This commitment to participation was supported by the evidence reviewed on the effectiveness of participation in the consultation paper (Department of Human Services 2005).

The evidence set out in the consultation paper was complemented by the review of information in the "Performance indicators - Participation in your health service system: Victorian consumers, carers and the community working together with their health service and the Department of Human Services" paper (the ‘participation indicator paper’). The participation indicator paper developed a minimum set of participation performance indicators. The indicators sit within a quality improvement model and have been incorporated into the evaluation and monitoring section of this policy. The indicators target the acute and sub-acute areas of the health service system, as these areas were found to need greatest policy direction. They link into existing policy drivers in primary, community, mental health and aged care.

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To complete the policy development process, consultations were conducted and further resources were reviewed to develop the third paper: "How to develop a community participation plan: minimum guidelines". The material contained in this third paper also contributed to and supports the "Doing it with us not for us" participation policy.

The policy targets the collective stakeholders of consumers, carers, community members, community organisations, health services and the Department of Human Services. Different groups within the stakeholders are targeted throughout the policy. To facilitate these shifts, the policy sets out priority actions across four levels of the health service system. The levels are:

• individual level
• program and department level
• health service organisational level
• Department of Human Services level.

At the start of each level, the target groups within the collective of
stakeholders are identified.

The "Doing it with us not for us" participation policy provides strategic
direction for all policy stakeholders on participation and a model to
continuously improve our participation actions.

Download documents

Doing it with us not for us: Participation policy 2006-09 (572kb, pdf)

Doing it with us not for us: Strategic Direction 2006-09 (52kb, pdf)

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