Between June and August this year over 400 people provided their insights on the draft WA Men’s Health and Wellbeing Policy.
The purpose of the policy is to provide direction to the WA health system and its partners to deliver strategies that improve the physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing of men and boys living in WA.
Community members were encouraged to provide feedback on the draft policy via either an on-line survey or at one of the community consultation forums, which included four in the metropolitan region and 15 in regional areas.
The consultation period produced an overwhelming amount of feedback. In total:
- 292 people attended metropolitan and regional forums
- 107 responses were received via the online survey
- 11 submissions were received via e-mail.
The online survey alone generated nearly 500 separate comments that needed to be accurately processed, analysed and considered.
Feedback from participants showed there is broad support for the policy’s guiding principles, vision, purpose, goals, priority populations and areas for action.
The community feedback also highlighted a variety of other priority population groups to consider for possible inclusion, the need for a condensed version of the document, and the importance of implementation and monitoring.
Work is currently underway redrafting the final WA Men’s Health and Wellbeing Policy to include consultation feedback. The draft policy was developed by Health Networks with guidance from the WA Men’s Health and Wellbeing Policy Reference Group.
The launch of the Policy is scheduled for April 2019.
Thank you to everyone interested in men’s health who participated in the consultation of the draft WA Men’s Health and Wellbeing Policy.
Many individuals, organisations and service providers contributed to the success of the consultation period by advertising and promoting events to their networks, attending forums and providing feedback.
Delivering a safe, high quality, sustainable health system for all Western Australians is only possible when we connect and share our stories.
For more information on the WA Men’s Health and Wellbeing Policy contact Health Networks via email or on 9222 0200.