HCT CEO, Ellen MacDonald was pleased to present our latest Hats Off Award to Nicole West and Simone Kramme, Manual Handling Clinical Nurse Consultants (pictured above with Mel Kim, Director Quality & Consumer Safety, Community, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Department of Health). They were awarded this in recognition of the leadership, care and commitment they demonstrated through the involvement of consumers in the People Living in Bigger Bodies Symposium.

Simone and Nicole were recognised for the thoughtful and respectful way they approached this work from the very beginning. They worked to ensure that people with lived experience were included in the planning of this Department of Health statewide staff professional development day and that this expertise was also central to the day itself.

We know how important the inclusion of voices of people in bigger bodies is to safe and accessible healthcare and this team worked to enable this opportunity for staff to hear and learn from these voices and to understand the importance of language to reduce experiences of stigma and more inclusive environments.

Through their leadership, Simone and Nicole promoted dignity, respect and the value of lived experience, setting a strong example of meaningful consumer collaboration in practice.

With sincere thanks and appreciation, Health Consumers Tasmania, alongside the consumers involved, proudly tip our hats to you both.

Thank you to Puspa, Peter and Liz for their support of this nomination and also to the HCT Consumer Policy Advisory Group for their support in the decision making for the award.

If you are a consumer representative or lived experience advocate and have had a positive experience in your engagement and want to tip your hat to someone, please check out this link below and nominate them today.