Usha noticed that both internationally and locally, prehabilitation efforts made with patients due to undergo surgery generally had low patient uptake and often, were unsuccessful in achieving their outcomes. This is her story of taking matters into her own hands to put consumers at the heart of the process and drive change. It is also a story to showcase that anyone within healthcare can lead change to benefit patients and transform traditional engagement with healthcare.

With over 70 bowel cancer and cardiac surgery patients taken through this process backed by a seed grant from Metro North Health, a multidisciplinary prehabilitation approach was developed and co-designed with patients which saw 100% compliance from patients and benefits were not only through patient feedback but also early positives around clinical outcomes around length of stay, post surgery complications and more. Hear from Usha:

• How to change the messaging and involve consumers to build literacy and take ownership of their general health and wellbeing to reduce surgery complications and risks
• Approaching the board to secure funding and making a case to fund a co-design approach for patient prehabilitation
• Taking a multidisciplinary approach across physiotherapy, social worker, dieticians, psychologists and clinical staff to holistic assess and support patient prehabilitation outcomes
• The need for cultural and system change to support a patient-centred health system