Youth Council

Share your experience to improve our health service

Who we are

The Youth Council is made up of young people (aged 14-24 years) who want to make positive changes within our services.  The Council meets every two months to share ideas and work to improve how we deliver care.

The Youth Council is made up of volunteer young people and staff. We work in consultation and partnership to ensure your voice is embedded in everything we do.

What we want to achieve

We are committed to patient and family-centred care and involving a diverse range of young people to help shape the future of our services.

If you want to join the SCHN Youth Council, please complete this survey to tell us more about yourself, and one of our team members will be in touch.

We want to know what is important to you and how we can improve your experience. The Youth Council provides an opportunity for young people to tell us what we are doing well, but also what we can do better.

Purpose

The Youth Council supports Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network to shape the future experiences of patients, families and community members accessing its services.

The Youth Council:

  • Acts as a youth advisory body to the SCHN
  • Provide young person’s perspectives on issues, initiatives, and key health priorities
  • Provide a forum to review documents, strategies, initiatives, incidents or events and make recommendations to enhance the patient and family experience.
  • Advise on the orientation, training, mentoring and support requirements of Young Patient, Family and Community Representatives partnering with SCHN.
  • Provides the young person’s voice on health issues, needs and concerns of people accessing health services, and matters referred by other committees and departments.
  • Promotes the goals of the Network to help children and young people live their healthiest lives possible.

Download the 2023 Youth Council Terms of Reference

Youth Consumer Representative recruitment

We're currently recruiting new representatives.

Position information

Contingent worker (volunteer): 663529

Employment screening requirements

  • National Criminal Record
  • Working with children (if over 18 years old)
  • 100 Point ID

The Patient and Family Engagement Network Manager supervises this position.

Purpose of position

Youth consumer representatives are people aged 14-24 who want to share their experiences and ideas about the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network services.

Youth consumer representatives use their patient, family, carer and/or community experience to help plan, deliver, monitor and evaluate health care services. This includes advocating for the consumer experience in healthcare and/or representing a broad view of the communities’ health needs and strengths.

The Youth consumer representative is responsible for working within the CORE (Collaboration, Openness, Respect, Empowerment) values and the Code of Conduct of SCHN within the boundaries of the SCHN strategic plan, policies and procedures.

Important notes about the role

There are separate systems for making individual healthcare complaints. Youth consumer representatives are instead advocates for the patient journey and experience.
Like all SCHN staff members, youth consumer representatives are bound by the SCHN Code of Conduct, which prohibits speaking to the media about SCHN organisational matters without proper authorisation.

The role

Youth consumer representatives work with SCHN staff on a range of activities, including:

  • Empower young people to share their voice and make recommendations for improving patient care;
  • Work with staff and other consumers to explore options and provide advice on the adolescent and young adult experience;
  • Get involved in strategic and operational planning which includes the design and redesign of health services;
  • Partner with staff on decisions and recommendations regarding specific health service issues;
  • Join working parties, forums or panels; and
  • Share stories to assist staff in understanding healthcare from the perspective of adolescents and young adults.

Challenges

  • Be respectful of the views and perspectives of each other and let everyone have their say. It can be challenging to understand the many influences on health care providers and the organisation, and also work with staff who have different levels of consumer engagement experience.
  • Consent is required from a parent if the youth consumer representative is under 18 years of age or not capable of providing consent.

Communication

Youth consumer representatives will speak with different SCHN staff, community members, other representatives and people accessing SCHN services.

Decision making

Youth consumer representatives will work with staff to make recommendations on a range of issues relating to the planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of health care services across SCHN.

Selection criteria

Criteria for selecting a youth consumer representative may include:

  • Being willing to provide advice as a young person with health needs or as a young person with an interest in making a difference in the paediatric setting;
  • Being willing to undertake training to strengthen the role;
  • Attend meetings, have their say, and review relevant resources between meetings as required;
  • Having a desire to see positive change in the consumer/community experience;
  • Having good communication skills;
  • Being able to listen to the perspectives of others and grow a rich perspective; or
  • Having had experience as a patient or know patients or families who have had experienced SCHN.

For more information, please email us at SCHN-PatientandFamilyEngagement@health.nsw.gov.au