Eric Hanna Trent Hills Now Photo

County Wide Public Input Sought by Ontario Health Team - Northumberland

CMH President/CEO Talks About the Relevance and Importance

Participation can be in Many Forms, from Focus Groups to Completing a Survey

Article by Sue Dickens

Trent Hills– Do you want to have a say in what health care locally looks like? Then participate and be the change.

That’s the message from the Ontario Health Team-Northumberland (OHT-N) and Campbellford Memorial Hospital’s President/CEO Eric Hanna. The OHT-N has launched its local first, a county-wide, cross-sector, collaborative community conversation and local data gathering exercise around health and well-being.

In making the announcement the OHT-N explains how the public can be involved in the planning of the future of health care here. There are many ways people can get involved including filling out a survey, by joining a provider’s focus group and more.

As the President and CEO of Campbellford Memorial Hospital Eric Hanna explained, “The help of the Ontario health teams is vital to increasing the amount of collaboration that happens between health service providers. That’s a great forum for that. And so CMH is actively involved in this planning exercise.”

He also pointed out, “People may ask what’s different between these Ontario health teams, than other planning studies that you’ve done in the last 35 years? And I would say the biggest one is the significant role that the patients play in this. In other words they are more than being consulted, they’re actually either leading or co-leading various aspects of the planning and design.”

Hanna added, “In the past, what would happen, you’d get a bunch of hospital administrators together and they would say what needs to happen. Well, you hope to heck they got the patient perspective. Now what we are doing is we actually ask a patient or a caregiver or a member of the public to actually lead some of these initiatives. So you get their perspective without being biased. … And I honestly believe, this is right from the gut, if you will, that’s going to make a big difference.”

Hanna explained the relevance to him of this particular information gathering exercise. “If you’re a healthcare administrator and you’re sitting there and you’re listening to the voice of the patient, you will have no choice but to see if that’s what they say important then that’s what we need to work on.”

Hanna encourages people to complete the online survey so their voices will be heard. “It doesn’t ask your name just where you are located,” he commented.

He explained why. “The perceptions of access to care in Trent Hills is not the same as the perceptions and access for the entire Northumberland area.”

As stated in the OHT-N media release, the input and information gathered will guide not only OHT-N activities in the coming years, it will also be summarized and made available to health and community care agencies to help support collaborative system planning for health and well-being priorities across the community.

“Since the formation of the OHT-N in December 2019, this partnership of patients, caregivers, health and community care providers in Northumberland have been working together to improve experience with local care and services, and to improve health outcomes across our community,” says Adrienne Bell-Smith, Executive Director of the Northumberland Family Health Team and co-Chair for the OHT-N.

“To set priorities and actions for our next phase of work, the OHT-N has begun creating a Strategic Plan – and we want to hear from you!” states Trish Baird, Executive Director of Community Care Northumberland and co-chair for OHT-N.

“The goal is a single process supporting multiple outcomes, for the benefit of the whole community,” says Scott Macpherson, inaugural chair of the OHT-N’s Experience Partner Council, the first direct patient and caregiver engagement body to represent the county-wide health and community care system.

About the Data Gathering Exercise

From March through May 2022, the OHT-N will be coordinating a broad community consultation to gather feedback to questions such as:

  • -• What do you value most about health and well-being supports in Northumberland?
  • -• What could we be doing better as a health system to meet your health and well-being needs?
  • -• What improvements to health care, community services and patient experience would you like to see?

The information gathered, along with related statistics and data regarding demographic trends and more, will:

  • -• Form the basis for the OHT-N’s first Strategic Plan (to be released in June/July 2022)
  • -• Inform the individual organizational strategic plans of OHT-N member organizations
  • -• Be summarized into public reports of all data gathered for use by others

How to participate

There are many opportunities for community members to get involved and have a say.

  • -• Complete our Community Survey (March 8 – April 4, 2022): People are invited to complete the online survey, share your experiences with health and community services and what you and the people in your life most need for your health and well-being. Complete the survey by April 4, 2022 for a chance to win one of two $100 VISA gift cards!
  • -• Join a Provider Focus Group (March 21-23, 2022): Are you a health care or community service provider in Northumberland? Join one of our upcoming targeted group discussions to share insights and ideas that will inform the priority-setting process.
  • -• Participate in a Community Conversation (March 2022): A team of 37 patients, caregivers and health and community service providers will be reaching out to people across Northumberland for one-to-one conversations about local services and where we should focus to improve experiences and health outcomes.
  • -• Participate in our Strategy Hives (May 2022): Using information gathered throughout the consultation process, we will be hosting a series of mini-planning sessions – called Strategy Hives. Patients, caregivers, community members, and providers of health care and community services will all work together to create a vision and define priorities for improved care and services in Northumberland. (More information on the Strategy Hives will be available in early April.)

To be part of this process and to learn more, access the survey, and register to participate in the other opportunities identified.

You can do this on this website: https://www.ohtnorthumberland.ca/en/ohtn/OHTN_Homepage.aspx

For questions about the OHT-N Strategic Planning Process, email the team care of [email protected] or reach out by phone care of Marley Budreau, Director, Ontario Health Team of Northumberland, at 1-855-473-8875 ext. 163.