Our community
Consumer engagement is the process where organisations actively work and partner with consumers, carers and the community to design, plan and evaluate health care services.
Engagement occurs at different levels across Fremantle Hospital (FH) and South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS) (external site), including:
- engaging with consumers to provide feedback and assist in planning related to a specific unit or service
- seeking consumers and the community participation and input into how services are delivered, evaluated and improved.
'Put it to the People' engagement platform
SMHS values hearing the diverse experiences and insights of our patients, families, carers and community.
Our easy-to-use online community engagement platform – Put it to the People – gives our consumers and community a voice in how SMHS delivers health care.
Read more about Put it to the People (external site) or visit the platform now (external site).
Volunteering

Volunteers make important contributions to our hospital and to the lives of our patients and their families. There are a number of ways you can get involved with our hospital, including:
- joining a volunteer team detailed below
- becoming a consumer representative and participating in various committees, working or focus groups and facility and/or service redesign projects when required
- makeing a donation.
Ladies Auxiliary
The Fremantle Hospital Ladies Auxiliary is a registered charity that has grown from humble beginnings in 1925.
Originally supplying homemade soup and sandwiches, the Auxiliary now operates the only retail food outlet in the hospital. Stocking more than 300 food lines, the Auxiliary also offers an in-house function catering service and ward refreshment trolley.
Profits from sales are used to purchase much-needed equipment and resources for the benefit of the hospital’s community.
More information
Coordinator: Tony Nella
Phone: 9431 2610
Operating hours
- 8.30am – 2.30pm, Monday to Saturday
- Closed Sunday and public holidays
Mental Health Consumer Advisory Group
The Mental Health Consumer Advisory Group (MH CAG) is a group of consumer and carer representatives established by the Community Advisory Council to:
- support consumers, families and carers to provide feedback to the Fremantle Hospital Mental Health Service (FHMHS)
- work in partnership with FHMHS staff to ensure that the consumer voice is heard, acknowledged and valued in the development and delivery of mental health services
- report gaps in consumer partnership to the Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group Mental Health Service Safety Quality and Risk Committee
- support consumers and carers to access mental health advocates
- facilitate FHMHS safety and quality initiatives
- provide representation on relevant mental health committees.
Contact us
The MH CAG can be contacted by phoning 9431 3434.
See some of our CAG members talk about their experiences
Nara volunteers

The Fremantle Hospital Nara Volunteers’ motto is “We are here to help”. Nara is an Aboriginal word meaning companion.
Duties that volunteers undertake include:
- assisting patients/consumers with queries and directional needs
- welcoming elective patients in the hospital’s main entrance
- delivering flowers to wards
- distributing hospital pamphlets and information.
More information
Phone the Manager, Volunteer Services on 6152 5778.
Operating hours
8am – 4pm, Monday to Friday
Patient transport

Patient transport volunteers provide a valued and greatly needed service transporting patients to and from the hospital.
Our volunteer drivers drive modern well-equipped cars funded by the Fremantle Hospital. On average, our drivers volunteer for one eight-hour shift per week. Arrangements with our volunteer drivers are flexible.
Contact
Phone: 9431 2805
Operating hours
7.30am – 3.30pm, Monday to Friday
Patient transport volunteers provide a valued and greatly needed service transporting patients to and from the hospital.
Our volunteer drivers drive modern well-equipped cars funded by the Fremantle Hospital and Health Serice Ladies Auxiliary. On average, our drivers volunteer for one eight-hour shift per week. Arrangements with our volunteer drivers are flexible.
Contact
Phone: +61 8 9431 2805
Operating hours
7.30am – 3.30pm, Monday to Friday
Red Cross vounteers
The Fremantle Hospital Red Cross Volunteers have a large presence in the hospital and enhance our patient experience by distributing magazines and operating a patient library service three mornings a week.
Other duties volunteers undertake include:
- hand and arm massages
- patient visits.
More information
Coordinator: Barbara Balinski
Phone +61 8 9330 1607