Listening to and partnering with children and young people, families, carers and the broader community means we better understand what we do well and where we can improve. Partnering with you helps us deliver better care and bring our vision of a world where all kids thrive to life.

Partnering with Consumers Framework 2024-2026 

To help describe what consumer participation means to The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) we have released our Partnering With Consumers Framework 2024–26.

This framework guides the way we partner with consumers so we can do better and go beyond what is expected of a health service for the benefit of patients, families, carers, staff and the broader community. 

More than 120 consumers, RCH team members and health service partners contributed to the development of this framework.  

If you have any feedback on this framework please let us know by emailing consumer.partnerships@rch.org.au.

Get involved

There are many ways you can help us do better. You can: 

• provide ongoing feedback about whether the service is meeting your needs, through our consumer feedback systems.
• get involved in the development and review of patient brochures and information handouts by joining one of our consumer advisory groups.
• join one of our hospital committees that span areas including clinical care, risk management, and quality improvement.
• share your story and experiences with us so we better understand your needs to improve  the care we provide.

You may be a current inpatient, outpatient or parent, carer or family member of a patient. Even if you've never been a patient, parent or carer of a patient, your input, ideas, and feedback are valuable to us. 

Have you noticed or experienced something positive or something that we can do better for you or future patients? Have a story to share? We’d love to hear from you. Complete our online feedback form. 

Want to have a say in the way the RCH can deliver better care and support patients, families and carers? Join one of our advisory groups, committees or our Virtual Consumer Panel. Read on for further information. And complete our Get involved form.

Have an idea that you want to share? Email consumer.partnerships@rch.org.au. 

Groups you may be interested in joining

Community Advisory Committee

Established in 2000, the RCH Community Advisory Committee is a sub-Board committee. 

The Committee advises the RCH Board in relation to two critical areas:

1. Establishing and maintaining effective systems to facilitate and monitor consumer, carer and community perspectives.
2. The integration of consumer, carer and community perspectives into all levels of the RCH's decision making. This includes but is not limited to operations, planning, policy development, quality activities and major initiatives to improve outcomes for patients and the community in accord with the RCH strategic directions.

Representing the consumer, carer and community voice and advising on key areas of improvement and growth is at the core of being an RCH Community Advisory Committee member. Members are a voice that represent the diverse community we serve – a voice for patients, families, guardians and carers.

Community Advisory Committee members are appointed in an advisory capacity to the RCH Board, as a legislated advisory committee (although with no executive authority).

Family Advisory Council

Established in 2008, the RCH Family Advisory Council is a mixed membership group comprised of consumer representatives and the RCH staff.

The group is passionate about ensuring children, young people and families and carers have a voice in hospital operations and the decision making process. The group seeks to embed family-centred care at the heart of all that the hospital does.

Members do this by:

• identifying areas of improvements, based on what they hear and see as consumers, community leaders and people with lived experience of the RCH
• being a voice for children, young people, families and carers
• creating a valued and trusted connection between consumers and the RCH.

“As Family Advisory Council members, through our lived experience, we can represent those that can’t represent themselves. We can be their advocates and ensure it is better next time.”  – Family Advisory Council consumer representative member

Children's Cancer Centre Carers Network

The RCH Children's Cancer Centre Carers Network brings the parents, families, carers, cancer and haematological disease survivors and RCH staff together to work on the shared goal of achieving the best outcomes and experiences for children and young people receiving care. 

Children and young people receiving care face many challenges in having their voice heard during their care experience. The network of parents, families and carers who surround them are uniquely placed to support, articulate and amplify children and young people’s needs whilst they receive expert care from the RCH’s world leading paediatric team.  

The RCH Children's Cancer Centre Carers Network is led by a diverse representation of parents, families, carers and cancer and haematological disease survivors. The group also includes RCH staff representatives who provide information, support and momentum for the group’s goals. 

Virtual Consumer Panel

The RCH Virtual Consumer Panel has been established as a way for patients, families, carers and the broader community to have a say and provide ideas that will improve the way we do things. Panel members can choose what they want to get involved in, without needing to commit to regular meetings or participate in in-person consultations. As a panel member you may be asked to complete a survey, support the development of strategies or contribute ideas to new or existing projects and improvement initiatives.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the RCH Virtual Consumer Panel please complete our Get involved form.

Consumer engagement stories

Consumers are actively involved in many different ways at the RCH, from committees to working and advisory groups to project teams.

Following are some examples of consumer engagement in action at the RCH:

2025 Annual Consumer Forum

In the Ella Latham Auditorium on Tuesday 9 December 2025 more than 50 consumer representatives from various the RCH consumer advisory committees joined members of the RCH Board, senior staff and representatives of other health services for the inaugural RCH Forum (see photo above).

The theme for the Forum, Agents of Change, provided attendees with the opportunity to learn about consumer engagement as a practice and what it looks like in action at the RCH. They heard passionate speakers share their secrets about consumer representatives being agents of change at the RCH.

Watch the keynote presentation and the panel discussion video

I wear a veil campaign 

‘I Wear a Veil’ is a consumer-inspired initiative that has been positively received since its launch in 2022.

Signs (see image) are available to inpatient families to display on the door to their room to notify RCH staff that they wear a veil. The notice reminds RCH staff to knock before entering the inpatient room, providing time for mothers and carers to place their veil back on.

This invaluable resource came as a result of feedback from the RCH volunteer Hannah.  

Here's how it came about … 

“Hello! My name is Hannah and my volunteer role at the RCH is called ‘Ward Support’. The idea for the posters first came to me when I was hanging out with a patient during an after-hours shift.  The patient's mother was getting ready to leave the ward to get some dinner. I expressed my admiration for the undercap (tighter head covering typically worn beneath hijab) she was wearing. She thanked me and told me she wears it all the time in hospital as a precaution, because in the past people have entered the room without knocking first. I thought that having a sign readily available on the wards would make communication in these situations easier for all parties involved.

After coming up with the idea, I asked other women wearing hijab at the RCH what their experiences in hospital have been like and they felt that a sign would be valuable to them and provide an added level of comfort and security.

I feel really proud to have been able to contribute to the RCH in this way! I also feel grateful to volunteer at a hospital that is so receptive to the needs of families. I hope that these signs can be of some use up on the wards.”

Appreciated and acknowledged by the RCH clinicians and families, the ‘I wear a veil’ initiative continues to create a positive and culturally safe environment for the RCH’s culturally diverse families.

What great genomic care looks like, from a parent’s perspective

Lucia shared her consumer experience story as part of the Year Two Foundations of Paediatric Practice Education program in February 2025.

Lucia and three-year-old Maxi are part of the SWAN community – a group of families whose members have rare and sometimes undiagnosed genetic conditions.

Lucia had previously seen several medical professionals to find the cause of her son’s hypotonia and seizures. After moving to Melbourne, she says she’s lucky to have found a neurologist and geneticist who gave Maxi excellent care. 

In Lucia’s view, what differentiates good care is not the eventual diagnosis or management – it’s how genetic experts engage the family at each step.

Parents are partners in the diagnostic and treatment process, Lucia says. “I talk about a good collaboration between the patient, the parents and the medical professional, and that triangulation should be present at every single stage of a diagnostic journey.”

Lucia is taking the time to enjoy every stage in Maxi's development. 

This is why Lucia feels genetic health professionals need to talk about more than symptoms, diagnoses and treatment options. “You need to bring a sense of humanity as well. You’re talking about children, you’re talking about families, you’re talking about emotions and feelings. If we can make that standard, it would be amazing for other families. She was encouraged to learn more and make her own connections.

Lucia’s experience led her to become more actively involved in SWAN, as well as joining the Family Advisory Council at the RCH. “This is just my way of contributing back to the community that we are part of: by providing our perspective, the voice of the consumer, so that they understand how to improve their processes and internal policies and help more families like ours.

“How can we make the whole thing better for other families? That’s what really drives me.”

Acknowledgement: Abridged from a story authored and originally published by Melbourne Genomics