This year Ms Anne Noble, Mr Keyur Kulkar and Ms Joanne Stride were welcomed as new community members and we sincerely thank outgoing members Dr Zevia Schneider, Ms Grace Tham and Ms Fiona Malloy for their contribution to the CAC as community representatives.

The CAC has two main roles. The first is to assist Eastern Health to integrate consumer and community views at all levels of its operations, planning and policy development. The second is to express the views of the community to the Eastern Health Board.

This year the Board, on recommendation from the CAC, endorsed the first policy on consumer and community participation which aims to:

• Make public our commitment to working closely with our community.
• Legitimise the role of consumers as partners in the Health Service.
• Raise expectations of staff that all programs and services are to engage in various ways with their consumers, both individually (e.g. through satisfaction surveys) and collectively (e.g. inviting input into service planning and/or evaluation).
• Raise expectations in the community that there will be opportunities for people to be involved in a range of consultative activities, including those consumers who are traditionally marginalised from mainstream health services (e.g. young people).

This achievement is one of many this year that the CAC has completed as part of the annual work plan.

Consistent with its Terms of Reference, the CAC has established three areas of interest and the major tasks completed this year are outlined below:

Quality of Care

Demonstrated input to:

• Policy on consumer and community development.
• 2004 Quality of Care Report.
• Service developments, e.g. Palliative Care, Respecting Patient Choices.

Communicate with Community

• Participated in communication and consultation with community in the completion of the Eastern Health Strategic Plan.
• Held a series of community information sessions across Eastern Health.
• Made a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry on the Roles of CACs in Metropolitan Health Services.

Transcultural Issues

• Established a profile of staff that can assist with Language Support.
• Reported on the status of cultural awareness training of all staff.

In addition to these achievements the CAC has been instrumental in supporting the community by facilitating changes in very practical and wide ranging matters such as improved access to car parking for Oncology patients at Box Hill Hospital and developing a guide for food safety in multiple languages for all patients and carers.