Opening the door to accessible healthcare: New podcast episode

20 Apr 2021

In the latest Taking care podcast episode, host Tash Miles talks to two health consumer advocates about what accessible healthcare means and what it needs to look like for all communities.

Key points

• Consumer advocate guests Darlene Cox and Hamza Vayani acknowledge improvements have been made to educate and better include healthcare consumers, but the work continues.
• Improving communication between patients and practitioners, fellow practitioners and the many systems and processes that connect is key to improving accessibility. 

Darlene Cox has been advocating for access to safe healthcare for more than 15 years. She discusses some of the important changes she has seen in making healthcare safer and more accessible, while noting that there is still much to be done in our complex healthcare system.  

‘We’re still advocating for meaningful ways for people to make complaints about their healthcare, for complaints to drive change, and for people to have access to information about their health services in a way they can understand,’ Ms Cox said.

‘It’s not just what it looks like, but what does [good healthcare] feel like. Good healthcare feels safe, you’re not expecting unintended consequences, you feel in control and confident to ask questions,’ Ms Cox said.

She’s joined on this episode by Hamza Vayani, another consumer advocate, who also speaks from the perspective of a caregiver for a child living with chronic illness and offering insights into the experience of his elderly father recovering from a stroke.

‘All too often we have a situation where you may be advocating on behalf of your child, but if your child isn’t aware of what’s happening, they are almost a passive recipient to the decisions or care that is being delivered to them,’ Mr Vayani said.

Understanding cultural diversity in care delivery is another huge challenge. 

‘If you don’t make it accessible or take into account someone’s cultural background, beliefs and understanding, or how they might navigate a system … it can be incredibly complex [to them] and incredibly inaccessible,’ Mr Vayani said.

So, what is the answer? Listen to the episode.

Did you know?

The Taking care podcast series offers professional and consumer perspectives on current issues and answers some frequently asked questions about public safety in healthcare. Download and listen to the latest Taking care episode today. 

Ahpra releases a new episode fortnightly, discussing current topics and the latest issues affecting safe healthcare in Australia. You can also listen and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and by searching ‘Taking Care’ in your podcast player.

Contact us

• For media enquiries, phone (03) 8708 9200.
• If you have questions or feedback about the podcast, email communications@ahpra.gov.au
• For registration enquiries, please phone 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9285 3010 (overseas callers).