Transcript for How we made All of Us
Megan Alston, she/her (Experience team , Ministry of Health): More than 200 staff, carers and consumers from a diverse range of backgrounds have been involved in the development of All of Us across the advisory group, design crew, and the many testing sessions.
Jenni Smith (carer and design crew member): I've been involved with a number of projects across New South Wales Health, and, um, look, it makes me a little bit emotional, um, when I say that, you know, I don't think I've ever felt more valued, included and heard, um, as I have been in this experience.
Now I think it's really important to highlight that I, I didn't feel that way because of any grand gestures or, mountains of paperwork that, you know, usually goes over everybody, everybody's head.
It was just simple things like kindness, sincerity, respect and a genuine desire to gain a broad range of perspectives and to actually take those perspectives and not only hear them, but actually use them and put them into action.
Jessica Smith (Aboriginal and cultural diversity engagement officer): We had consumers, carers loved ones, staff, people from New South Wales and interstate, all providing input and guidance to really work together and develop what this framework looks like and what be able to share our perspectives on what we see as the right information and the guidance that, New South Wales health staff would benefit from.
Historically, aboriginal voices haven't been included in a lot of design and development, and it was, it was really appreciated that we, we could bring that cultural lens, um, and provide that input. And the facilitators and the group were really, really keen and interested in hearing those perspectives and including that as well.
Jenni Smith (carer and design crew member): We were all part of the process. The power was balanced, and no one was better than anyone else. No one was in charge of anything. It just, it felt like a, a true collaboration of everybody being heard, everybody being included, and everybody having a say. If you make a, a carer feel valued through genuine engagement, they will move mountains for you. But if you are just trying to tick a box by having carer involvement, most carers will see through that, pretty quickly. So, it's, it's not just enough to have carers in the room. But I think this is why this framework is so particularly important, uh, because it's, it is a step-by-step guide on not only how to best engage carers, but how to do it well.
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