The Consumers Health Forum of Australia is celebrating a milestone – the national peak body representing health consumers has spent 25 years on the front lines of health policy reform, driving consumer-led changes to the health system.

CHF CEO Carol Bennett said the occasion was a chance to reflect on the many achievements health consumers had made so far, and focus on the road ahead for health reform in Australia.

“The Consumers Health Forum of Australia has advocated for – and secured – significant advances in health reform in its relatively few years. After all, it is health consumers who use and pay for the health system, and the success or failure of our health services must be measured by the experiences of health consumers,” Ms Bennett said.

“CHF has played a key role in major health reforms including:

- Establishing a Healthcare Rights Charter
- National registration and accreditation for health professionals
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme reform and sustainability
- Implementing dedicated consumer representation on a growing list of national boards
- Personally controlled national e-Health records
- Establishing certainty for PBS deferrals

“CHF members, representatives and supporters have achieved much in our first quarter century, and we will continue to fearlessly pursue reforms that put people first. We are able to achieve what we have by building on the pioneering work of others, by listening to consumers and grounding our policies in the achievement of better health outcomes for all health consumers.”

Ms Bennett also noted that there is still a lot of work to be done.

“Australian consumers are still having their healthcare decisions taken out of their hands and decided by health providers and the health system still focuses on throughput and raw numbers rather than patient outcomes. We are still seeing huge sums of money spent propping up health industry bottom lines. We still see Australian consumers faced with some of the highest out of pocket fees in the OECD, and the second highest in the Asia-Pacific region. We still do not base decisions about health policy and practice on health outcomes and the experiences of health consumers.

“Consumers have achieved much in the first 25 years of our organisation. These achievements have provided a sound platform for delivering real reform based on patient-centred care over the coming 25 years. Given how far we’ve come, it’s critical that the work continues.”

CHF was founded on October 17, 1987 with a grant from the now-Department of Health and Ageing.

Media contact: David Shaw (0429 111 986)

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