The QSCIS Backbone - Compassion Revolution

WE NEED YOUR VOICE

The
QSCIS
Backbone

Our shared Commitment to the way we care

Give us your input

We need your voice

Building beautiful culture
at QSCIS

A co-design team of 20 people from across QSCIS, have been working with ideas on how to build beautiful culture at QSCIS. The co-design team have drafted a document which outlines our shared commitment to the way we care, and have named the project ‘The QSCIS Backbone’.

This document is now ready for input from the QSCIS community. Nothing in this project is fixed—the ideas, the name and the language are all up for discussion and review.

Ways you can engage

Feedback on The QSCIS Backbone Draft

We have written our ideas for the way we care for each other. You can contribute your ideas within this form.

The feedback window has now ended.

Download a pdf of the draft

Speak to co-designers

Speak to the co-design team—you’ll see them wearing a big badge. You’ll hear about The QSCIS Backbone at all staff forums and other gatherings.

Gather with Mary Freer

On the 18th & 19th of September, Mary will be at Princess Alexandra Hospital. She is making every effort to speak to as many people as possible. You are warmly invited to drop in and have a cuppa with Mary (she’d love to see you):

Afternoon tea
2—4pm, Wednesday 18 September
Bill Davies Room

About

A story of this project

In 2024, a co-design working group was formed with the goal of creating a beautiful culture at the Queensland Spinal Cord Injuries Service (QSCIS). Read story

Background

The Queensland Spinal Cord Injuries Service has developed a unique continuum for the acute care, rehabilitation and ongoing management of individuals with spinal cord injuries. The dedicated work of everyone involved represents a best practice model in this field.

QSCIS provides world-class care to people with spinal cord injury. The aim is to assist individuals who have experienced a spinal cord injury to reach their maximum potential, and stay healthy.

This project is a response to a series of issues raised by people with lived experience of a spinal cord injury and their families about the service quality and inclusiveness. In 2023, The Minister for Health responded to the issues raised by requesting a formal review. This review was carried out by Queenslanders with Disabilities Network and Health Consumers Queensland which resulted in an Action Plan.

The Action Plan identified Culture and Service Delivery as a key theme with a focus to ‘Develop and implement a Culture Action Plan’, and Compassion Revolution came on board to work with staff and people with living experience of a spinal cord injury to richly develop the culture of QSCIS.

Our mission at Compassion Revolution is to bring radical compassion front and centre to the world of work. Our team works closely with organisations across Australia to embed compassion into their values DNA. We’re thrilled to be working with QSCIS.

We assembled a dynamic co-design team, made up of people with living experience of a spinal injury, a carer, clinicians, peer support workers and leaders.

This mix of people on the co-design team meant we could craft a collaborative document for how to care for each other. This is revolutionary work! What we often see is one group telling the other what they expect from them, but to mutually agree on a set of values, principles and behaviours is a new way to build strong and flexible communities. The co-design team have done the hard work of crafting and teasing ideas apart—the next step is up to you. We need you to take this work and really bring it alive and make it work well for everyone.

The co-design team have named this collaborative commitment ‘The QSCIS Backbone‘

Now that The QSCIS Backbone has been firmed up by the co-design group, it is time to bring it to the QSCIS community. This is for everyone within QSCIS: people living within the Spinal Injury Unit to those who have transitioned home; the people who care for them—from the clinicians at the SIU and those working in the community; or peer support workers and leaders.

Co-designers

These people created the draft

The co-design team is made up of people with living experience of a spinal injury, a carer, clinicians, peer support workers and leaders. This is who they are

Angie Dobbrick
QSCIS Executive Project Manager

Sybil McGuire
Occupational Therapist

Amy Nevin
Dietitian

Jodie Jost
Clinical Nurse Consultant

Claire Panagoda
Rehabilitation Medicine Physician

Beth Walter
Nurse Unit Manager

Melanie Thompson
Clinical Nurse Consultant

Celestine Fisher
Cultural Capability Officer

Darren Allon
Rehabilitation Medicine Physician

Porscha McCann
Porterage Supervisor

Jeremy Lindsay
Principal Clinical Projects Lead
and Physiotherapist

Katie Hammond
Team Leader Peer Support

People with a Living Experience
of a Spinal Injury:

Ben Liddle

Lindsey Nott

Jocelyn Stocker

Kathryn Ware

Darren Shannon

Tim McCallum

Bringing The QSCIS Backbone to life

The QSCIS Backbone is a living document. Right now it’s as a draft, and soon there will be a shared commitment to the way we care that we will work with. Culture shifts and so do we. Our intention is to revisit this commitment often to keep it relevant and fresh.

Get in touch

Kiley Pershouse
Kiley is at QSCIS.
Talk to Kiley about QSCIS and this project.
Email her if you’d like to organise a time to meet.

Amy Milhinch
Amy is at Compassion Revolution
Talk to Amy about the co-design process or feedback on the draft.
Email her and/or to organise a time

FAQs

What do you mean by co-design?

With the aim of building beautiful culture we brought together a group of people and set out on a co-design process. Co-design has come to mean a whole lot of things. When we say co-design we are referring to an approach to designing with, not for, people. Co-design works really well when there are people with lived experience, their communities and professionals working together to improve something that they all care about. At QSCIS the co-design team all cared about building a more beautiful culture and worked together to co-design a document that they have called The QSCIS Backbone.

The most important role of co-design is elevating the voices and contributions of people with living experience. Co-design focuses on what is important, what we can do to improve things and how the systems and policies can support the participation of people with lived experience.
How did you decide the membership for the co-design team?

It was really important to get the right mix of members for the co-design team. We needed representation from people with a variety of clinical expertise and those with an overview of operational services. Importantly, we also needed to ensure the right balance of people with living experience of spinal cord injury and their carers. We also tried to be sure that members of the co-design team had the capacity to attend all of the meetings.

We knew right from the start that QSCIS was full of amazing people who cared about beautiful culture but we also knew that for a co-design team to work well it has to be small enough for people to work closely together and big enough to get the work done.
Who is Compassion Revolution?

Compassion Revolution is an organisation that builds compassionate culture in healthcare systems, bringing compassion and impact together.

We work with partners who prioritise human and planetary flourishing and we build cultures that are caring, safe and inclusive of everyone.

The home of Compassion Revolution is in South Australia, and our services and work is delivered all over Australia. It is because of our national reputation for building beautiful culture that we were invited to tender for this project.
What is The QSCIS Backbone Draft?

A backbone provides strength and flexibility. When we say someone has backbone we mean that they have a strength of character and the courage to do the hard work first. The QSCIS Backbone is the naming of the important values and behaviours that people across QSCIS will agree to. They’re not rigid rules, they have flexibility and life and will provide strength.

The QSCIS Backbone is made up of five value statements:

We are collaborative;
We are compassionate;
We are optimistic and hopeful;
We are respectful;
We are intentional.

Each of these values is tied to a set of very clear behaviours that we can all expect from ourselves and each other.

This is how culture is built. The very first step is getting clear and celebrating our values and then backing them up with great behaviours.
Is this really a draft document?

Yes it really is! Maybe you’ve been involved in planning and change work before and you have some doubts about whether your opinion counts. This time it really does count. We need you.

The co-design team designed a beautiful document called The QSCIS Backbone. Right now it is in draft form—that means we have done a lot of work to make sure that we have something valuable that everyone can work with and comment on. It is so much easier for people to work with a draft rather than starting with a blank sheet. The co-design team has done the first phase of the hard work.

Now it is up to everyone across the QSCIS eco-system to make comments and suggestions to bring this document fully alive.
How do I give my feedback/input?
We’ve made it really easy and there are many ways to give feedback:
- You may see The QSCIS Backbone posters and postcards with a QR Code—which will drive interested people to this site—see the button above (Feedback on Draft), where comments and suggestions can be made in the form.
- Or you can email us with your suggestions
- Or you can chat to a member of the co-design team. We’ve even made it easy for you to find a team member—they will be wearing a badge that says Ask Me About The QSCIS Backbone. We’ve also listed the Co-designers on this page.
What happens to my feedback?

Our team at Compassion Revolution will make sure that all of the comments and suggestions are taken to the co-design team for discussion. Not every suggestion will be reflected in the final document but every suggestion is valuable and will help us make this a living document. We will be looking for themes to help us keep developing The QSCIS Backbone.
How will the QSCIS Backbone come to life?
The QSCIS Backbone sets out 5 values and principles. Each value is connected to a series of behaviours. Beautiful culture flourishes when we can agree on our shared values and the behaviours that will demonstrate that commitment.

Staff, volunteers and people with lived experience are all important in bringing The QSCIS Backbone to life. It is an agreement that everyone will be able to use in almost every setting.

The QSCIS Backbone will help you when you need to:
- decide on the right course of action;
- set clear and healthy boundaries;
- keep each other safe;
- explain what you need and how others can support you;
- welcome new staff and patients into the SIU;
- introduce yourselves to each other;
- set goals for the future;
- dream big.
The QSCIS Backbone will be owned by the whole team. This isn’t a set of rules to be obeyed or a checklist—this is a set of agreements and values that will encourage a commitment to bring your best self into every situation.
How does the QSCIS Backbone impact me?

If you are someone with a living experience of spinal cord injury or the family or carer the QSCIS Backbone is a set of values that will guide your participation in rehabilitation, your relationship with your care team and the celebration of your journey.

If you work at or volunteer at QSCIS the QSCIS Backbone is your set of values and behaviours and we hope it will be celebrated and included in every situation. Make it yours.
How long will The QSCIS Backbone take to impact the culture?

It takes time to build beautiful culture. It is built at the speed of trust. You won’t wake up in a week and see the world has changed but over time if you practice the values and behaviours that are agreed on you will start to see greater respect, confidence and openness.
What happens next?

Once we have agreement then this document will move from draft to final. We will have a celebration launch. Everyone will agree the next steps.