Better Together

This episode of Better Together features Hawkesbury District Hospital General Manager Bethany Pade and longtime consumer representative Jenny Gilder discussing the hospital’s recent transition into Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and the work of the Hawkesbury Hospital Engagement Committee (HEC). In conversation with hosts Matt Roger and Dominic Santangelo, Bethany and Jenny explore ho...

In this episode, our host Matt Roger sits down with Brad Astill to get his insights into consumer engagement as the recently appointed Chief Executive for Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD). We explore Brad’s experiences in health management, lessons about consumer engagement, and how consumer lived experience shapes the District’s strategic vision. Brad provides his thoughts on...

In this episode, our host Matt Roger sits down with Dr Shantel Duffy (Manager, Research Governance and Development at NBMLHD), and Kelly Thompson (Director of Research Operations at NBMLHD) to discuss the roles that consumers can and should play in health and medical research. In 2016, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and The Consumers Health Forum of Australia Ltd (CHF) re...

Our host Matt Roger and NBMLHD Board Chair Peter Collins talk all things consumer engagement at the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District.

In this episode our host Matt Roger sits down with Karen Alexander (Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District Disability and National Disability Insurance Scheme Manager). Like everyone else, people with disability want to live their best life, with access to all areas of life including education, employment, health care, housing, justice, love, and relationships. Disability is a part of being h...

In this episode our host Matt Roger sits down with Belinda Berryman (Communications and Engagement Manager, Health Infrastructure and co-chair of the Nepean Hospital Redevelopment Consumer Committee) and Julie Russell, a fellow consumer representative in the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and co-chair of the Nepean Hospital Redevelopment Consumer Committee.   Nepean Hospital is the ma...

In this episode we sit down with Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District’s new Chief Executive, Lee Gregory. We briefly discuss Lee’s professional background before tackling questions about the barriers and challenges to consumer engagement, the value of remunerating consumer representatives, and how consumer engagement at scale can help to achieve NBMLHD’s strategic visions of innovation and...

In this episode our host Matt Roger speaks with Gordana Kostadinovska, Manager of the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District's Multicultural Health Service and Una Turalic, NBMLHD's Senior Cross-Cultural Development Officer. We discuss gaps that exist within our health services for consumers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and how the system can improve t...

In this episode, our host Matt Roger is joined by two special guests. Caroline Allen is an experienced consumer of mental health services and a passionate advocate for service improvement and reform, and Matt Russell is Director of Mental Health services at the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD). We discuss the introduction and potential impact of Advance Statements in Mental Hea...

Joining is in this episode is Dr Nhi Nguyen, Specialist in Intensive Care at Nepean Hospital, member of the NBMLHD Board, Clinical Lead for the Nepean Hospital Redevelopment, Clinical Director for Intensive Care NSW at the Agency for Clinical Innovation, lecturer with the University of Sydney, and ICU Clinical Advisor for the NSW Health COVID response. Our conversation reflects on the value of hum...

In this episode we speak with Mohamed Khadra, Professor of Surgery at the University of Sydney, Director of Surgery and Director of Strategy and Innovation at Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, and celebrated author and playwright. Professor Khadra is also a passionate advocate for patient-centred and patient-led change in health care and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2017. We disc...

In our pilot episode for the Better Together podcast we spoke with Kay Hyman, then Chief Executive of the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, who has since retired from the organisation after a long and valuable contribution. In our wide-ranging conversation we shed some light on the Nepean Blue Mountains LHD’s commitment to consumer engagement, including in relation to its ongoing redeve...

Better Togethe r is a platform for health consumers and health care workers to partner in vital conversations about how our health system can achieve better outcomes for all. The podcast comes to you from the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD), where Health Consumer Representatives join with senior clinicians and health service leaders to discuss a range of topics relevant to hea...