Patient Partner – Geography 4 Quality Council, Island Health

Geography 4 (Greater Victoria, Westshore, Sooke and Esquimalt) is seeking patient partners to join their Quality Council to help ensure the patient voice is represented when quality initiatives are discussed. If you live in this area, read on and learn how you can get involved.

Open to: Patient partners living within Geography 4

Lead Organization or Department

Island Health

Aim

The Geography 4 Quality Council is part of a series of Island Health quality councils and committees that are responsible to set and meet high standards of care and to maintain a continuous commitment to quality improvement. Patient partners will be invited to draw upon their experience(s) of care and community knowledge to provide feedback on items discussed at Council meetings. This will assist the Council to better understand and consider the perspectives of patients and families, and to ensure that decisions and priorities reflect the needs and goals of patients.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org). The promise to you is that the health care partner will work with you to ensure that your ideas and concerns are reflected in recommendations and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.

Eligibility

• Patients or family partners who live in and have experience of health services in Geography 4 (Greater Victoria, Westshore, Sooke and Esquimalt).
• Comfortable participating in committee and working group settings, including sharing lived experiences in a group setting for the purposes of quality improvement.
• Willing to attend meetings at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
• Previously attended a PVN orientation session and completed the Volunteer Agreement. If you have not attended an orientation session but you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Leah Smith directly to see if accommodations may be possible.
• The placement process for this opportunity may include an informal interview between the volunteer and the health care partner.

Logistics

• Number of Vacancies: 2
• Date and Time: Meetings are usually held the third Wednesday of every month, between 8:00am-9:30am. The next meeting will be held on May 17, 2017.
• Location: Meetings will be held at Royal Jubilee Hospital. In-person attendance is preferred.
• Term: 1 year with the possibility of extension.
• Time Commitment: Attendance at monthly meetings lasting 1.5 hours.
• Materials will be provided one week prior to each meeting and should be reviewed in advance in order to contribute to the facilitated, decision-focused discussions. Review of meeting materials may take approximately 1 to 2 hours.

Reimbursement

Pre-approved mileage and parking will be reimbursed, as well as pre-approved transit expenses such as bus fare.

Background

Island Health recognizes people are better served when planning and decisions are made with the needs of local communities in mind. Health services have been organized around four broad geographic areas based on where people live (population distribution), where Island Health provides care (concentration of staff) and distances between care locations. The Geography 4 Quality Council addresses the needs of people, sites and services within and around the Greater Victoria area, Westshore, Sooke and areas. The Council monitors service delivery, identifies improvement priorities and sets standards to ensure quality of care across the care continuum of hospital and community based services. The Council is co-chaired by the Administrative Director and Medical Director and includes clinicians, managers, patient partners, and representation from the quality and patient safety portfolio, as well as community-based clinicians and administrators.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Leah Smith
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Southern Vancouver Island
778.678.3977
lsmith@bcpsqc.ca