Department of Health, WA

Welcome to the online consultation hub for the Department of Health, Western Australia.

This hub is a place for you to participate in online consultations in the areas of public health and clinical services, planning for frameworks, policy and guidelines.

Check this page regularly to have your say on consultations that are of interest.

We look forward to your engagement and receiving feedback to improve the way health services are delivered in Western Australia.

Open consultations are displayed below, alternatively, search for consultations by keyword, postcode and interests.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

HealthPolicy.HealthPolicy@health.wa.gov.au

 

Open Consultations

  • Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2019 Review – Stage 1

    In 2017, the Western Australian Parliament established the Joint Select Committee on End-of-Life Choices to inquire into the need for laws in WA to allow citizens to make informed decisions regarding their own end-of-life choices. The Committee conducted extensive consultation throughout its...

    Closes 8 December 2023

Closed Consultations

  • 2022-2023 Food Act 2008 and Public Health Act 2016 Reporting

    Local Government enforcement agencies are required to report to the Department of Health on their performance of functions under the Food Act 2008 (Food Act) (as required by section 121) and the Public Health Act 2016 (Public Health Act) (as required by section 22). The Food Act reporting...

    Closed 17 November 2023

  • Understanding Advance Care Planning in WA: One year from the release of the Advance Health Directive and Advance Care Planning resources

    The WA Department of Health End of Life Care (EOLC) Program welcomes your views to gain a better understanding of the current uptake of advance care planning (ACP) and use of ACP resources in WA via this online survey. Advance care planning (ACP) is a voluntary process of...

    Closed 15 November 2023

  • WA Mothers and Babies Report Redesign

    The Midwives Notification System (MNS) in Western Australia (WA) has been collecting data since 1980. During this time, the Department of Health (the Department) has produced over 30 annual reports containing information on women who gave birth in WA and their infants. The Department has also...

    Closed 1 November 2023

  • WA Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Strategy 2024-2030 co-design

    Be part of the strategy development that aims to eliminate... HIV viral hepatitis (as a public health threat) congenital syphilis WA Department of Health’s (DoH) current suite of WA Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Strategies 2019-2023 are due to lapse on 31...

    Closed 8 October 2023

  • Draft Code of Practice for On-site Wastewater Disposal

    The Department of Health is consulting on a Draft Code of Practice for On-site Wastewater Disposal (Code of Practice). The aim is to adopt the Code of Practice within new wastewater regulations to be drafted under the Public Health Act 2016. Background Stage 5 of...

    Closed 28 September 2023

We Asked, You Said, We Did

Here are some of the issues we have consulted on and their outcomes. See all outcomes

We asked

The consultation was about amendments to the Medicines and Poisons Regulations 2016 and the Schedule 8 Medicines Prescribing Code. A primary aim of the consultation was to seek feedback on proposals to reduce regulatory burden, particularly for prescribers.

The proposed changes follow implementation of ScriptCheckWA, Western Australia’s real-time prescription monitoring system. ScriptCheckWA provides clinicians with up-to-date information about all monitored medicines prescribed and dispensed for their patient within WA.

The survey was set up so respondents could choose to answer only those questions most relevant to them.

You said

A total of 39 submissions were received in response to the discussion paper. Eighteen were from organisations and 21 were from individuals.

Peak bodies representing prescribers, pharmacists and consumers responded. A significant number of respondents confined their feedback to either the section about regulation of stimulant medicines or the section about regulation of medicinal cannabis.

Most respondents supported a requirement for prescribers and pharmacists to register to access ScriptCheckWA. Opinion was divided about whether use of ScriptcheckWA, at the time of prescribing or dispensing, should be mandated.

There was general support for regulating the prescribing of stimulant medicines and medicinal cannabis in a similar manner to other Schedule 8 medicines. Detailed prescribing restrictions would be included in a ‘prescribing code’ rather than in the Regulations.

Over half the respondents supported the list of Schedule 4 medicine proposed to be classified as ‘monitored medicines’. Another 26% of respondents supported most of the medicines on the list being monitored through ScriptCheckWA.

We did

Following agreement by the Minister for Health, regulatory changes are being progressed. Details of the final proposals are available in the Consultation Report (April 2023)

Further targeted consultation will be undertaken during development of a new prescribing code to replace the current Schedule 8 Medicines Prescribing Code.

We asked

We asked the following questions of all survey respondents:

  • What are your biggest current strategic challenges for safety and quality in WA Health?
  • How can the DoH support your S&Q initiatives and priorities?
  • How can the DoH improve collaboration to drive effective safety and quality in WA Health?

We also asked a series of specific questions depending on whether respondents worked in a Health Service Provider or the Department of Health.

You said

You said the key issues facing our safety and quality system include:

  • The availability of high-quality, accessible safety and quality data, and a desire for more skills to use data effectively to support safety and quality initiatives;
  • HSP and DOH awareness and ability to implement contemporary approaches to quality and quality improvement in healthcare;
  • Resourcing to support a strong, positive patient safety culture, and to sustain positive safety culture long-term;
  • Barriers to compliance with safety and quality measures and engagement between the Department and Health Service Providers to proactively resolve patient safety issues

We did

Your feedback contained a mix of concrete suggestions for safety and quality activities and initiatives, and ways of working towards these within the confines of our health system.

We have used your feedback to help shape detailed goal setting for the Patient Safety and Clinical Quality Directorate’s Strategy 2022-2025

We will continue to refer to specific comments and feedback as we implement the Strategy.

We asked

The Office of Population Health Genomics asked stakeholders for their feedback on the draft WA Genomics Strategy and their views to inform the development of the strategy’s first implementation plan.

The strategy has one overarching vision – that all Western Australians benefit from the timely and appropriate translation of genomics, enabling precision medicine and precision public health.

You said

A total of 66 responses were received through Citizen Space and 2 written responses were received via email. The key themes that emerged from the responses are summarised below.

Vision:

  • More than 20 respondents explicitly agreed with or made positive comments about the vision.
  • More than 10 respondents commented on the term “maximise the transformative potential”, suggesting that it was either too ambiguous or not beneficial to include.
  • Some respondents suggested that the vision needed to be more patient focussed.

Underlying principles:

  • All comments received were positive and in support of the underlying principles.
  • Some additional principles were suggested for inclusion – the most mentioned ones being innovation, privacy and confidentiality, accountability, integrity, and collaboration.
  • A couple of respondents suggested that seven underlying principles was too many.

Enablers of success:

  • The feedback received was overall supportive of the enablers of success.
  • There were mixed responses around what “governance” should encompass, indicating that this word can take on different meanings for different stakeholder groups.
  • Eight respondents commented on the critical need for reliable and ongoing funding, suggesting that this should be an enabler of success.

Priority areas, goals and initiatives:

  • More than 20 respondents explicitly agreed with or made positive comments about the priority areas.
  • More than 10 respondents suggested including more detail on the needs, preferences and roles of various stakeholder groups relevant to genomics, i.e. carers and guardians beyond immediate family members, peer support groups, regional and remote patients and staff, allied health professionals, not-for-profit organisations, and the private sector.
  • Other factors important to multiple stakeholder groups were:
    • Co-design and co-production with health consumers
    • Secure and sustainable funding of the genomics workforce and services to ensure continuation and growth
    • Improving the genomic literacy of health professionals and consumers
    • Ethical use of genomic data
    • Equity of access.

Stakeholders also provided valuable input to shape the content of the strategy’s implementation plan, particularly the key actions to complete in the first two years.

We did

In response to the feedback, the Office of Population Health Genomics:

  • Amended the vision to be clearer.
  • Consolidated the number of underlying principles from seven to four and incorporated the additional principles suggested by stakeholders in the process. The only exceptions were accountability and collaboration, as they were already included as enablers of success.
  • Removed governance from the enablers of success to minimise confusion. Governance is instead covered in the conclusion section with additional details on what the strategy’s governance structure will look like for additional clarity.
  • Amended the content of the strategic priorities to better reflect stakeholders’ values and views, including:
    • Referring to a multi-professional genomics workforce and incorporating vignettes to acknowledge the diverse applications and many successes of genomics in WA.
    • Emphasising the critical role of health consumers in the co-creation (i.e. co-design and co-production) of genomic healthcare services and policies.
    • Elevating sustainable investment as an enabler of success to signify that this is critical to ensure the goals of all strategic priorities are met.
    • Expanding on the importance of genomic and health literacy for both health professionals and consumers.
    • Highlighting the need to protect privacy and trust with all community members.
  • Considered stakeholder’s views in drafting the strategy’s first implementation plan (internal working document).

The final WA Genomics Strategy 2022-2032: Towards precision medicine and precision public health is now available to view here.

Any queries can be directed to genomics@health.wa.gov.au.