Communication in health care is a major quality and safety issue. Every day in Australian hospitals, miscommunication causes avoidable critical incidents - patients die, are harmed or receive the wrong treatment because of ineffective communication, for example during handovers or diagnosis.

Consumers Health Forum (CHF) and the Australian National University (ANU) Institute for Communication in Health Care (ICH) are co-hosting this webinar on the role of communication in health care and patient safety.

Research into organisational and interpersonal communication in key care settings and at care transition points is time critical.

Pressure on the Australian health system is likely to grow as demands increase, particularly for those with multiple morbidities, and as COVID-19 continues to evolve.

CHF is a leading advocate on patient safety and quality health care for all Australians. ICH is an internationally recognised research institute bringing together clinician, healthcare communication researchers and patient to conduct world-class translational research in healthcare communication. Together with the ICH, we are hosting this webinar as a valuable precursor to a roundtable discussion later in the year. The aim of the webinar and roundtable are to raise awareness of recent research in health communication and the importance of healthcare communication for safe high quality care.

The webinar will cover the following presentations:

Diana Slade:“Patient and carer inclusion in clinical handover: translational communication research”

Carmel Crock, Mary Dahm and Maureen Williams:“Safer diagnosis through better communication - The way ahead”

Imogen Mitchell:“End of Life Care Across Australia” 

For more information, visit: https://chf.org.au/events/webinar-communication-health-care

Facilitated by: Leanne Wells

Leanne is CEO, Consumers Health Forum, and has held executive positions in federal government and non-government organisations. She has previously served as CEO of national peak and local service delivery organisations in the primary care sector. She is a health advocate and service executive with over thirty years’ experience in health and social policy, program, and service development. Leanne has broad governance experience and is currently Board Director of Coordinare (Southeast New South Wales’ Primary Health Network), the Ozhelp Foundation, and the Population Health Research Network.