News & Trends - Pharmaceuticals
APAA CEO unlocks the ‘full value’ of the consumer voice: Reimagining Healthcare Senior Leadership Series

In this intriguing podcast for the Reimagining Healthcare senior leadership series, Deidre Mackechnie, CEO of the Australian Patient Advocacy Alliance (APAA), shared her vision of transforming healthcare in the next 10-15 years by harnessing the power of the consumer voice.
Addressing how consumer expectations are driving change, Mackechnie highlighted that both industry and governments are being challenged to engage more meaningfully with consumers.
“We need a healthcare system that prioritises health and wellbeing. What we currently have is a system that is funded and operates on the premise of sickness. The upcoming generations who will be the predominance of the people accessing the healthcare system in 10 to 15 years time have much higher expectations,” she emphasised.
She identified several systemic barriers that hinder the integration of the consumer voice in research, Health Technology Assessment (HTA), and patient care.
“It’s like turning the Queen Mary around. It’s going to be slow but it is not a reason not to start. Protection of turf, particularly by industry, is also continuing to place barriers,” Mackechnie noted.
Part of the discussion focused on how to proactively engage and amplify the voices of underserved communities, such as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) consumers, First Nations people, and those in remote or rural areas.
Despite the growing emphasis on consumer engagement, Mackechnie acknowledged that the industry still struggles to build sustainable trust with patient advocacy groups. In co-designing trust, she pointed to the need for “transparency” and “consistency”.
Concluding the interview, Mackechnie outlined essential actions needed in the short-term to move towards the reimagined future of consumer voice to transform healthcare in the next decade.
In reimagining healthcare across the entire patient journey, Health Industry HubTM is the only one-stop-hub uniting the diversity of the Pharma, MedTech, Diagnostics & Biotech sectors to inspire meaningful change.
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