REDUCING PATIENT ACCESSIBILITY BARRIERS IN THE CLINICAL SETTING AND THE VALUE OF LIVED EXPERIENCE
With
Hannah McPierzie, Disability Consultant & Advocate &
Chair, Deafblind West Australians &
Non-Executive Director, Deafness Forum Australia
PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE SEGMENT
Filmed in Perth | October 2025
Hannah McPierzie is a globally respected presenter, disability advocate, and educator who offers a unique perspective on disability and communication. She lives with Neurofibromatosis Type 2, a rare degenerative condition, and has two auditory brainstem implants. After 15 years teaching in the disability sector, Hannah acquired disability herself in 2020, when life-saving surgery left her deafblind.
Combining her professional expertise with lived experience, Hannah’s advocacy highlights the barriers people with disability face when navigating health systems, particularly in relation to communication access. She works with universities, hospitals, research institutes, private companies, and government agencies to build critical awareness of disability and to embed inclusive practices into policy and service design.
As Chairperson of Deafblind West Australians, Hannah has led initiatives that strengthen peer support and outreach for people with deafblindness. She is also a Non-Executive Director of Deafness Forum Australia, where she contributes to national advocacy on hearing loss. Her projects have included making advance care planning accessible for people with sensory loss, delivering community awareness training, and supporting the next generation of young leaders with disability.
Hannah is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, where she champions the role of lived experience in health professions education and systemic reform. Her work consistently addresses the challenges of fragmented systems, inaccessible communication, and the need for genuine inclusion in decision-making. Based in Perth, Western Australia, Hannah continues to drive change that prioritises dignity, accessibility, and equity.
Source: Supplied
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Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite on patient safety and health systems improvement
Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite is Founding Director of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Director of the Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science and Professor of Health Systems Research at Macquarie University.
Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite is a leading health services and systems researcher with an international reputation for his work investigating and contributing to systems improvement.
The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) recently announced it will award the 2021 Sidney Sax medal for outstanding contributions to the development and improvement of Australia’s healthcare system to Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite.
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“Nurses can do more, should do more and now they will do more”, The Hon Minister Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health.
Advanced Practice Nurses comprise 9% of the total nursing workforce, with 26,000 clinicians Australia wide. However although highly skilled, they are under-utilised and constrained to the full scope of practice. The Australian College of Nursing believes this needs to change. Nurse led models of care in which Advanced Practice Nurses play a significant role in service provision, must feature in the future. ACN President Professor Christine Duffield FACN states, “It’s now widely acknowledged internationally that nurses can provide a clinical and very valuable service that’s better suited to the healthcare needs of some consumer groups.”
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Lived experience & human-centred design in healthcare
Recognised as one of the Top 100 Women of Influence by The Australian Financial Review, Melanie Tran is a visionary leader whose work lies at the intersection of design, technology, health, disability, and education. With a focus on human-centred design, digital strategy, and service design, she leads transformative initiatives as a Manager in Design, Digital and Data at Nous Group, a global consulting firm. Her work is driven by a deep passion for using creativity and technology to solve complex social challenges.
