Early in 2023 the Chief Executive of the Western Sydney Primary Health Network, aka WentWest, accepted an evidence review that pointed to the value in running a citizen jury in Western Sydney. A citizen jury could ask the community to identify the health and social care priorities, enabling targeted investment that would provide great returns for the people. We knew that our Community Advisory Council had provided great input to existing programs in our organisation but that it was difficult to go back to the basics. We wanted the first step - a foundation - so that we could build on it.
We soon realised that we needed to separate out two distinct populations in our community - First Nations and the rest of the population whose ancestors have been here for less than 250 years. A jury is a representative sample of a distinct population, however defined. The two groups have a lot in common but a lot that is not. I am so glad we made that decision.
It took us many months of preparation - listening to internal and external stakeholders and taking on board their advice for how a citizen jury would most effectively deliver in our community. It was a lot of work, but worthwhile. That advice really changed our directions many times. We understood that we needed to be very careful about how we provided the 'evidence' for the juries to deliberate upon. Western Sydney, perhaps moreso than many other communities, is richly populated with people who are more comfortable speaking a language other than English at home. This is important because health and social care facts can be complex and we wanted our juries to be able to come up with well-informed viewpoints.