606 - Consumer Engagement Done Right: Designing Digital Health Experiences With Consumers

About this episode

This episode discusses genuine consumer engagement in healthcare and digital health, emphasizing the need for ongoing partnerships with patients.

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Shelley Thomson, Co-Founder and Director of the Patient Experience Agency and host of the Consumer Health Partnerships podcast. They explore what genuine consumer engagement looks like in healthcare and digital health, why it is often missing, and how organisations can move beyond basic feedback towards meaningful, ongoing partnerships with patients and consumers. The conversation unpacks the gap between how healthcare is designed and how it is actually experienced, highlighting how patients move across multiple services and touchpoints while systems often remain siloed. Peter and Shelley discuss why many digital health solutions still miss the mark by focusing on workflows and technology rather than lived experience, and why honest, open feedback is both essential and difficult to capture in practice. They also examine the difference between consultative feedback and true collaboration, and why engagement must be continuous rather than treated as a one-off activity. This episode offers a grounded look at how healthcare organisations can build consumer engagement as a core capability, creating more connected…

People in this episode

Host: Peter Birch

Guest: Shelley Thomson

Topics covered

• consumer engagement
• digital health
• patient experience
• healthcare design
• collaboration
• feedback

Keywords

• consumer engagement
• digital health experiences
• patient feedback
• healthcare partnerships
• collaborative design

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Patient Experience Agency, Consumer Health Partnerships

More episodes of Talking HealthTech

• 614 - Improving Access and Outcomes Across New Zealand: Tend’s Integrated Digital-First Care Model · June 8, 2026 · 1h 9m
• 613 - Preventative and Personalised Primary Care: EverLab on Data, Engagement and Innovation · June 3, 2026 · 1h 14m
• 612 - Small Steps, Big Futures: Solving Maternity Care One Happy Baby at a Time · June 1, 2026 · 32 min
• 611 - Bold Upgrades, Zero Downtime: How Smart Labs Are Modernising Pathology · May 27, 2026 · 36 min
• 610 - Exploring AI and Innovation in Healthcare at the RLDatix Summit 2026 · May 25, 2026 · 35 min
• 609 - Automating Primary Care Admin with Care GP: AI Solutions for Australian Clinics · May 20, 2026 · 35 min