06/11/2025
People Living in Bigger Bodies Symposium - Healthy Manual Handling
The symposium by the Department of Health, Tasmania Manual Handling Team, brought together powerful voices with lived experience of weight bias in healthcare, offering health staff a chance to hear directly from consumers about the real-world impacts of stigma in care.
Having health consumers in the room meant the conversation was shaped by first-hand experience, helping ground clinical understanding in the realities faced by people in bigger bodies.
HCT CEO Ellen MacDonald spoke at the event, sharing insights from recent interviews with Tasmanian consumers and reflecting on her own lived experience. These stories continue to inform HCT’s work in advocating for more inclusive, respectful healthcare.
Thanks to the Manual Handling Team, in particular organisers Simone and Nicki, for supporting strong consumer engagement.
A massive thank you to the lived experience speakers, Puspa Sherlock, Liz Knox and Peter Frethey, who shared their expertise with honesty, with a focus on safer and more accessible healthcare for all Tasmanian patients - your contributions were impactful and deeply appreciated.
HCT will release a report in the coming months capturing what was heard during the consultation we undertook, along with recommendations to help improve care for people in bigger bodies across Tasmanian healthcare settings.
ID: An image of people at the Symposium. There are four consumer representatives sitting in the front and five health staff standing behind. They are smiling.
