PHARMAC's Consumer Participation Consultation
PHARMAC is dedicated to improving its engagement with consumers and has been reviewing its consumer participation activities. The Consumer Participation Discussion Document: Seeking Your Views (21 pages, 387 KB) was launched at our October 2009 Forum and subsequently released to a wider audience. The document sought consumer feedback on PHARMAC’s various consumer participation efforts, and proposed some potential new activities we could undertake to better understand and incorporate your views into our work.
We are grateful for the feedback we received from consumers through this process. This feedback will allow us to fine-tune our work to better consider consumer views.
This work reinforced that, while we already interact with the consumer sector in a number of ways that have proven useful, there is an opportunity to further strengthen this interaction. Some of the ways we currently engage with consumers are through our website, in face to face meetings, through consultation documents, providing media releases and corresponding with consumers.
Recently, the PHARMAC Board approved some changes in line with the suggestions we received from this consultation and that the Board considered to be a sensible approach in the current economic environment. These include:
Changes to the Consumer Advisory Committee - We reviewed the Terms of Reference for the Committee earlier this year, which is one of the ways we gain consumer perspectives on our work. We also refreshed the membership and, under the new Terms of Reference, this will now occur more frequently, which should ensure we regularly get new and fresh perspectives on the committee. More information about the Committee can be found here.
Application Tracker - This will be an internet-based tool to enable people to see where particular medicine funding applications are in the PHARMAC system. Currently under development, we hope the Application Tracker will be up and running about October 2010.
Improvements to the website - The PHARMAC website is the main way most people interact with PHARMAC, so it needs to work well for them. Suggested improvements include a `Hot Topics’ button for issues of high interest, and a ‘What to Expect’ webpage to flag upcoming topics of interest. Improvements will be made progressively as we seek to keep the website as up to date and useful as possible.
Greater use of ‘Plain English’ - We seek to make our public documents as easy to read as possible, however there is always the chance that jargon will creep in. We will remain vigilant about this and make sure that we use everyday language as much as possible in our documents. We are already making strides, winning a Plain English award in 2007, and being shortlisted in 2009.
Consider the use of social media - Facebook, Twitter and chat sites are where many people now meet and share ideas. We are already using some of these communication tools as part of our Access and Optimal Use campaigns, and will continue to explore opportunities to use them for broader PHARMAC purposes.
We aim to be well-connected to consumers and responsive to their needs. Although this consultation has closed, we always welcome consumer input regarding our activities. Click 
here to provide us with your feedback.
Page updated on 06 Aug 2010
Linked documents
Consumer Participation Discussion Document (21 pages, 387 KB)
Pharmaceutical Management Agency Consumer Participation Discussion Document Seeking Your Views Discussion Document on PHARMAC’s Consumer Participation Contents 1. Introduction ….. 2 PHARMAC’s role ….. 2 Origins and purpose of the review … 2 Review process to date …. 2 Process…
