Involving the public in our VCH service-planning and decision-making. This isn’t some new trendy jargon. In Canada and around the world, VCH is justly recognized as a leader in public involvement in health care. But in this growing field, how do we now stack up against other health authorities? We’d love to hear your ideas, too, for how we can be truly innovative in patient and public engagement.
In Dr. Jeff Coleman’s Nov. 7th blog post, he communicated three key components of VCH’s People First Strategy, including engaging with and empowering our public to participate in the planning and decision-making for our health system.
Our VCH Community Engagement department has supported public involvement throughout the region since 2001. We’ve helped departments and programs in many ways, from small surveys for patients, to recruiting people for advisory committees, all the way to grand-scale regional consultations. And as the NRC Picker institute says about quality improvement work:
The real test of performance (by a health service) must be the views and experiences of its users. Once the evidence is gathered, key to success is developing an action plan with the involvement of staff and patients.
—Picker Institute, Using Patient Feedback.
VCH is part of a large network of public involvement professionals working in health care, including great leaders like the UK National Health Service (NHS), the Queensland Government in Australia, Alberta Health Services, and Capital Health in Nova Scotia.
What makes them great leaders? The key lies in their senior leadership teams, who demonstrate a high level of commitment to public involvement.
For example, in recent conversation with Geoff Wilson, Capital Health’s Director of Patient and Public Engagement, we learned that their health authority has now developed the first regional Citizen Engagement Policy in Canada, and we asked Geoff how Capital Health is working towards this bold new standard:
It was part of a longer-term process, of course. Capital Health has embarked on a journey of significant change to our healthcare culture since we commenced strategic planning in 2007/08. At that time, senior executive could see that we needed to forge a better relationship with the public. We had become caught up in the churn of the healthcare system – and it is easy, in this huge system, to continue along thinking the system is working. The changes we made at that time, and continue to make, are transforming us and our system.
For example, our leadership team realized that improving our system – at many levels – would need to include a commitment to transformational leadership at all levels. Leadership development courses became mandatory for all senior executive, directors and managers. This changed the conversations and the questions we were asking at our leadership tables. Traditionally, health care was always seen as a domain of experts in data and the practice of medical care – but the only person who can be an expert in experience of the system is the patient. At some time you need to stop and listen – really listen – and make decisions that will change how the bureaucratic structure relates to the people it serves. Who or what are we really serving if we don’t tap into that experience?
We also realised we needed to start involving multiple key stakeholders at our strategic planning tables. Many different stakeholders are important – and it is vital to have members of the public in those planning discussions as well. If you lack that voice, you’re going to drift away from a fundamental piece of what matters to the people we serve.
It is no surprise that Capital Health has won international awards for their strategic planning process, and indeed set a new standard for public involvement in health care in Canada. When speaking to Capital Health senior executives about their policy and commitment to public involvement, Dr. Jeff Coleman noted, “…their leaders all live this to a high degree, and it is strongly reinforced by the CEO and board. We can learn from them.”
What new innovations can VCH contribute to this growing field? How can we stay at the forefront of public engagement leadership, supporting partners world-wide, as well as our VCH colleagues? In Community Engagement, we believe that we all have a say in having the best healthcare possible. We’d love to hear your ideas, too, for how we can be truly innovative in patient and public engagement. Contact us at ce@vch.ca