Community and consumer involvement

Consumers and community are broad terms that can include patients and their friends, families or carers, and members of the public. Consumers can also be people who represent the views and interests of a consumer organisation, a community, or a wider demographic.

Consumer and community involvement is more than just recruiting patients or people to participate in research. Instead, it is engaging those with lived experience to be an active voice in the research process, from identifying research priorities through to codesigning research programs and beyond. Consumers can participate in steering, advisory or reference groups, provide a community perspective on review panels, or be consulted at a strategic level to inform research design.

Most Western Australian research organisations will also have established internal pathways, processes and resources for involving consumers and community in research and translation.

Consumer and community involvement is a critical part of health and medical research and translation in Western Australia, and therefore a strategic focus area of the WA Health and Medical Research Strategy 2023-33. Involving consumers and community leads to better results for everyone involved in research and ensures that the research undertaken is informed by the needs of the community.

Consumer and community involvement program

In Western Australia, the WA Health Translation Network's Consumer and Community Involvement (CCI) Program supports consumers, community members and researchers to work in partnership to make decisions about health research priorities, policy and practice. The CCI Program aims to improves health outcomes and ensure community involvement becomes standard practice in all research.

The CCI Program can provide advice on how to involve consumers and community in your research, as well as training programs and resources.

Health Consumers Council

The Health Consumers’ Council (HCC) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that aims to ensure the consumer is at the heart of our state’s healthcare system. Their engagement program provides training and other support to ensure people can have a say in health policy, planning and review.

The HCC also provides systemic advocacy for the WA community by participating on a large range of committees and working groups to ensure the consumer voice is heard at the highest level.

NHMRC statement

The National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC's) Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research (2016).