Feb 15, 2023
A broad range of questions and comments were raised by people attending the Health Quality Council’s public meeting May 16th in Saskatoon. More than 50 interested citizens and patient advisors took part in the afternoon session at TCU Place.
In the question and answer session following an update by HQC Board members, attendees talked about the importance of
– including diverse populations – such as new Canadians, Indigenous people, and seniors – in health system improvement;
– helping people with chronic conditions access appropriate supports;
– involving in health system improvement providers groups who have not typically been engaged, such as dental hygienists;
– tooling up the next generation of providers by embedding quality improvement in health sciences curriculum for health sciences students, and,
– closely integrating Saskatchewan physicians and other provider groups in health system change.
During their formal presentation, Board Chair Dr. Susan Shaw, Vice-Chair Dr. Dennis Kendel, and Board Member Dr. Werner Oberholzer discussed improvement efforts currently underway in Saskatchewan, including patient- and family-centred care; improving patient flow across the health system; building improvement capability among health care leaders and providers; and, measuring health system performance.
The three also talked about new, emerging work, including accountable care in hospital and the community; patient-oriented research; a new quality improvement training program for doctors and other clinicians; and the recently launched Choosing Wisely Saskatchewan Network.
Dr. Shaw thanked meeting participants for sharing their personal care experiences. “Your stories are so powerful,” says Shaw. “They inform the work of our organization, and our whole system.”
“Since HQC was launched in 2002, we and our health system partners have come a long way in making care better and safer. But there’s much more work that needs to be done. HQC is committed to continuing to both lead and support our system’s journey to become a high-performing health system.”
The StarPhoenix and Leader-Post both published short news items about the meeting on their websites.
