Medical Devices Consumer Working Group

On 20 August 2019, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) held a consumer workshop, bringing together a broad range of consumer and patient representatives to discuss ways of informing and engaging consumers in support of An Action Plan for Medical Devices (the Plan).

Following on from this workshop, a small working group of volunteers formed the Medical Devices Action Plan Consumer Working Group (the Group).

The Group works with the TGA to prioritise, co-design and represent a consumer focus on the Plan strategies by:

• acting as a sounding board for ideas and/or approaches
• providing links to relevant stakeholders through their networks, and
• providing feedback on documents and proposed actions.

The Group met four times between November 2019 and December 2020.

In November 2021, the Group was reinvigorated and renamed the Medical Device Consumer Working Group (MDCWG). Consumer representative memberships increased from 10 to 21 members. The first meeting was held in December 2021.

Terms of Reference

For more information about the purpose and structure of the Group, see Medical Device Consumer Working Group: terms of reference (pdf,175kb). The Terms of Reference were updated in February 2022.

Membership

• Arthritis Australia
• Australian Patients Association
• Brain Tumor Alliance Australia
• Cancer Council Australia
• Chronic Illness Alliance
• Consumers Health Forum of Australia
• Continence Foundation of Australia
• Council on The Ageing Australia
• Diabetes Australia
• Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia
• Genetic Alliance Australia
• Haemochromatosis Australia
• Haemophilia Foundation Australia
• Health Consumers NSW
• Health Issues Centre
• hearts4heart
• Lung Foundation Australia
• Multicultural Centre For Women's Health
• Pain Australia
• People with Disability Australia
• Independent consumer representative

Meeting statements

A communique will be published here following each meeting.

• Meeting 11, 22 June 2023
• Meeting 10, 14 March 2023
• Meeting 9, 9 December 2022
• Meeting 8, 26 August 2022
• Meeting 7, 4 May 2022
• Meeting 6, 25 February 2022
• Meeting 5, 15 December 2021
• Meeting 4, 27 November 2020
• Meeting 3, 18 June 2020
• Meeting 2, 20 February 2020
• Meeting 1, 19 November 2019

Initiatives

The Medical Devices Consumer Working Group has collaborated with the TGA on consumer resources, including:

• Travelling with medicines and medical devices 
• Five questions to ask your health professional before you get a medical implant
• Patient information materials for medical implants: a fact sheet for consumers

The Medical Devices Consumer Working Group has provided input to the TGA’s hubs of information for: 

• Medical devices reforms
• Breast implants
• Transvaginal (urogynaecological) mesh devices
• Medical device cyber security