Patients, families, and members of the community play an important role in improving the quality of care provided by The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). Feedback and involvement from our consumers and the community are of great value. There are many different ways you can contribute to high-quality health care at the RCH.

Register your interest in becoming involved at the RCH by filling out this online form.

Who is a healthcare consumer?

All of us are consumers of the Victorian healthcare system at some point in our lives, either directly or indirectly.

The term ‘consumer’ is defined in the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards as 'Patients and potential patients, carers, and organisations representing consumers' interests'.

Why it’s important to involve consumers in healthcare

By involving consumers we:

• gain advice and input from the people who use, or could use our service
• hear about their experiences and expectations
• draw on the expertise and advice from other sectors on ways of improving the service we provide
• improve accountability.

Getting involved

You can become involved at any time by:

• providing ongoing feedback about whether the service is meeting your needs, through consumer feedback systems
• being involved in the development and review of patient brochures and information handouts
• becoming part of hospital committees, including clinical care, risk management, and quality improvement
• telling us your stories and experiences to contribute to our understanding of 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.

Groups you may be interested in joining

Family Advisory Council

The Family Advisory Council (FAC) is a group of parents, carers and hospital staff that works in partnership with the RCH to promote, support and improve patient and family-centred care. The FAC is a busy and enthusiastic team that works in partnership with the hospital and aims to turn patient and family-centred care principles into practice.

The FAC has some useful tips for parents, carers, and families, as members have all been through the hospital experience before. 

To find out more, visit rch.org.au/fac/ or contact us on fac@rch.org.au.

Children’s Cancer Centre Carers Network

The Children’s Cancer Centre Carers Network is made up of parents or carers of babies, children or adolescents who are or have been, treated for cancer or a haematological disease. 

The Carers Network team also includes Children’s Cancer Centre staff members who, together with parents and caregivers, work to continually improve the care provided to our children.

To find out more, visit rch.org.au/ccc/contact_us/.