Patient Partner, Respite Services Redesign Consultation

Respite services are an important part of ensuring caregivers are provided a short period of rest and relief as they go through the emotional and physical demands of giving care for their loved one. Fraser Health is seeking two patient partners to assist them in looking at how they can talk with the public about these services and how to easily access them.

Open to: Patient partners in Fraser Health communities

Lead Organization or Department

Fraser Health Residential Care

Aim

• To improve, through an easy to use format, access to respite care
• Patient partners will provide valuable feedback to ensure that the needs of patients and families are part of the redesign process

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of consult on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will listen to and acknowledge your ideas and concerns, and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.

Eligibility

Open to patient partners who have had experience with Fraser Health Respite Services in the past two years. This engagement is ideal for patient partners who:

• Have a real passion for connecting people to the respite care
• Can share their experience with a lens on how to improve access to respite services

If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and volunteer agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit, or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact the engagement leader directly.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 2
• Date/time: to be determined in consultation with patient partners
• Location: A location in Fraser Health communities that is convenient to patient partners, to be disclosed
• Commitment: Up to five 2-hour meetings until the end of January 2020

Reimbursement

Preapproved expenses related to travel to in person meetings will be reimbursed according to the Fraser Health Travel policy (including mileage, parking, tolls and/or public transit).

Background

Fraser Health conducted a review of respite services from October 2017-April 2018 to achieve a better understanding of client and caregiver needs, capacity utilization, and make recommendations to enhance respite services. Issues identified include:

• Inefficiencies in booking, admission and communication
• Respite services are currently underutilized although these services are key in supporting the model of community-based care
• The home health client population is increasingly complex, and the services provided currently are facing new challenges such as addressing emergent care needs

Goals of the work are to optimize respite use, enhance the patient experience and expand respite capacity.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Jami Brown
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Fraser Valley
604.510.0449
jbrown@bcpsqc.ca