The Health Quality Council: Our purpose
The Saskatchewan Health Quality Council (HQC) is an independent organization, operating at arms-length from the Government of Saskatchewan. Since 2002, we have been accelerating improvement in health care across the province through training and education (building improvement capability and spreading innovation throughout the province), improvement initiatives, and research.
Based on our mandate outlined in the Health Quality Council Act, we aim to:
- monitor and assess the quality of health and health care
- help partners build their capacity for quality improvement
- promote research and education leading to improvement in health and health care
In this section
Our role
We partner with and support health organizations, government, community organizations, and communities across the province to drive progress toward better health and better care for all. We place our energy where we believe we can use our skills to make the most impact. Our work is informed by citizens, communities, and shared system priorities impacting health. Our work in the health system is guided by improvement efforts within the health system, health system priorities, and where the system needs to go.
We focus our work in three key service areas:
- Measurement and analytics: By asking difficult questions, challenging the status quo, and finding answers to the questions that matter, we put vital information into the hands of people who can make change happen through policies or through how health care is delivered.
- Collaboration: We create or contribute to environments where stakeholders work together on shared outcomes. We offer our skills in quality improvement, research (measurement and analytics), and facilitation to help stakeholders make change happen faster in health and health care.
- Skill-building: We develop skills in our partners so they can confidently make change happen in their fields. This allows us to support the development of a culture and mindset of quality improvement.
Mission
Accelerate improvement in the quality of health and health care throughout Saskatchewan.
Vision
Optimal health and health care for everyone.
Values and principles
Our values:
- Create meaningful connections
- Spread passion for learning
- Work to make a difference
We demonstrate our values through the following principles:
- Put the patient first
- Respect every individual
- Know and do what is right
- Think scientifically
- Be optimistic
- Add value every day
- Be accountable
Our 2024-2029 Strategy
We envision a future where optimal health is accessible to everyone in our province. As a trusted partner and driver of change in the health system, we play a vital role in bringing this vision to life and making a meaningful difference in the lives of those who call Saskatchewan home.
Over the past five years, we focused on accelerating the use of evidence to address the social determinants of health, establishing and growing relationships with First Nations and Métis partners, building quality improvement capacity throughout the province, and equipping our organization with the right tools and people to set us up for long-term success.
This work has been instrumental to our success and will act as the foundation to our next strategic plan.
Over the next five years, HQC will embark on a journey of collaboration. Working with both system and community partners, we’ll focus on tackling some of the province’s most significant health and health care issues.
Using a tailored approach, we’ll identify and illuminate current gaps and opportunities to establish a common goal amongst the various agencies, practitioners, organizations, communities, and other potential collaborators. Together, we will develop, measure, and evaluate the tactics required to determine the best approach, which can be further refined or scaled appropriately throughout Saskatchewan.
The future is bright for Saskatchewan – and with the help of HQC, we’re poised to become the best at getting better and achieve optimal health and health care for everyone, together.
Our 2024-2029 Strategic Plan focuses on:
- Thrive at Home: Enhancing Quality of Care for Older Adults with Complex Needs
- Four Winds: Youth Mental Health & Addictions
What the new strategic focus means for the Health Quality Council and our partners
While the Health Quality Council is broadening our focus, we will continue to support the province’s health care system where we add the most value, including helping to evaluate the effectiveness of different programs and services and offering quality improvement training for physicians, clinicians, and others.
We have two decades of testing, learning, and refining our methods for quality improvement, measurement, and research to identify gaps in the quality of care and in our methods for improving care. We are excited to share our experiences with new partners and help them achieve meaningful gains with their work in solving complex problems. They are the experts in these areas; we will work to support and help them understand challenges, test improvement ideas, sustain positive outcomes, and measure and evaluate progress towards their goals.