Involving communities in their health

This process had been trialed earlier by a former WA health administrator who believed in empowering communities, but was rapidly abandoned by a successor who apparently did not.

Basically, what these informed community representatives decided they needed was more money on preventative healthcare, more money on mental health, a much more targeted focus on the genuinely disadvantaged, and less money spent on hospitals and emergency departments.

The more you think about it, the more radical you may see that as being. But it is a prime example of a community that, given an understanding of the economic and health big picture and empowered to come up with its own answers, is willing to take responsibility for making hard choices.

Now, we are waiting with interest to see whether the recommendations will be instigated. Because, if they are not, it may just be because the solutions the community has suggested would be unpopular with health and hospital administrators, whose world would be turned upside down, and that would be equally unpopular with many vested medical interests.

But, is it really possible to empower the broader community to participate in decision-making and goals setting? Is it really possible to take reasonably complex issues and break them down to something understandable by everyone? Is it possible to trust consumers and the community to have as good or possibly even better strategic sense than parliamentarians, bureaucrats and ministers?

Judging by the very practical solutions suggested by these focus groups, I believe that the answer is yes. Now all we need is for ministers and bureaucrats to agree.