A new working together agreement between the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF) and NPS MedicineWise has been launched setting out how they will partner and build on their collaboration over the past 20 years to ensure consumers are at the centre of quality use of medicines and better health decision-making.
“Consumers are at the centre of the health system, and the decisions they make and actions they take are a vital component of ensuring that society achieves good health outcomes, better care experiences and safe and high-quality health care,” says Ms Leanne Wells, CEO of CHF.
“The partnership is particularly important against the backdrop of quality use of medicines and medicine safety named as a new National Health Priority,” says Adj A/Prof Steve Morris, CEO of NPS MedicineWise.
“The primacy of the consumer will be further championed and supported by both partners as we progress our efforts to improve safe and wise use of medicines and the health of Australians,” he says.
Under the agreement, CHF and NPS MedicineWise will focus on building leadership and capacity within the health consumer community to strengthen participation and embed best practice consumer and community engagement across quality use of medicines programs and initiatives.
Key priorities include promoting value-based health care, quality use of medicines, consumer co-design and health literacy; a consumer leadership and mentoring program; and examining consumer health literacy and activation from the perspective of ‘grass roots’ consumers as it relates to medicines and safe use to inform policy and programs.
“Together, NPS MedicineWise and CHF are committed to working together to realise the goals and objectives of the National Medicines Policy and the National Strategy for Quality Use of Medicines,” says Adj A/Prof Morris.
“The partnership leverages the strengths of each organisation to support a consumer and quality use of medicines focus to everything we do,” says Ms Wells.
