“By listening to and advocating on behalf of consumers, we influence and shape health policy and services so that all Australians can experience quality health outcomes.”
Did you know?
83%
of Victorians see a GP
58%
have a pathology test
49%
see a dental professional
36%
see a medical specialist
14%
visit a hospital emergency department
12%
Are admitted to hospital
Health Issues Centre is Victoria’s peak health consumer organisation. We listen to everyday people and champion improvements to our healthcare system.
We are registered as a charity and have been operating for over 35 years. HIC was formed to provide a voice for consumers from diverse backgrounds. We use the principles of human-centred design to make sure that health solutions address consumer needs and reflect consumer priorities.
Our Focus Areas
We continuously engage with health consumers to improve:
Our Role:
- We champion the voices of everyday people in all aspects of our healthcare system and represent the millions of people receiving healthcare
- We are a recognised leader in consumer and community engagement training, providing Australia’s only accredited consumer training for consumers and service staff.
- We operate a social enterprise arm which provides fee for service consultancy, helping health services to better integrate the consumer voice into health care design
Who We Serve:
We represent Victorian healthcare users.
In particular, we believe that all consumers should have the opportunity to influence decisions that will impact the quality of their health care and that should especially include those who are vulnerable, marginalised and seldom heard.
Concerningly:
- Almost 50% have one or more of the 10 most common chronic conditions – 80% for people aged over 65.
- People living in low SES areas experience poorer health
- One in seven people do not feel they can make sense of health information.
We are committed to the creation of a health system that combats this inequity, prevalence of chronic illness and challenges with health information literacy.
