Because your voice matters.

Member, Connecting Patients with Community Doctors Quality Improvement Committee

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Open to Fraser – Vancouver Coastal, Patient partners in Chilliwack and surrounding communities

Last updated

Who better than patients can describe the challenging and enabling factors involved in finding a family doctor? A group of physicians in Chilliwack is reviewing the current Patient Attachment Mechanism program with the hopes of encouraging more physicians to participate. The project committee needs patient input to identify new areas for improvement in the physician-engagement process.

Open to: Patient partners in Chilliwack and surrounding communities

Lead Organization or Department

Chilliwack Division of Family Practice. Lead Physician: Dr. Ling Low

Aim

Ultimately, this project hopes to improve the way patients find and connect with family doctors. The committee is working toward this aim by combining family doctor and patient partner input into a project designed to address barriers. By sharing their lived experiences of accessing primary care, patients partners will help to identify and explain the existing challenges in the system, and also contribute to the development of new access strategies.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility

This engagement is ideal for patient partners who:
  • Have experience with the health care system, particularly in the area of trying to access a local doctor; and
  • Bring an enthusiastic patient voice to the team and can critically assess ideas and opportunities.

Logistics

Vacancies: 1-2 Date, Time, Location: At Chilliwack General Hospital every second Monday from 1500 - 1600, with the possibility of moving to once a month Commitment: six-month duration

Reimbursement

Pre-approved 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

Family doctors know that patients moving into a new community or whose doctor has retired or relocated often have difficulty finding another primary caregiver. During the GP for Me pilot in 2014, the Fraser South community set up the Patient Attachment Mechanism (PAM) program to help match patients to available doctors. Currently there is a review of the program in Chilliwack to see if the process can be made smoother or easier for doctors so that more of them may participate in the ongoing program. It is hoped that a patient perspective may help identify any new areas for improvement in the process. For more information on the GP for Me program please visit the website.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

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

From Our Community

Karla Warkotsch

Patient Experience Consultant – Interior Health

Karla Warkotsch

The question I like to ask health care employees is ‘Who is this for?’ and ‘Do we have the right people at the table?’ As a health care employee, I see how easy it is to fall into doing for, rather than doing with patients. The voices of the patient, family and caregiver are essential to ensure the patient is central to the direction and focus of the work being done.

Members of the BCPSQC pose for a team photo at the Quality Forum 2019.

Health Quality BC administers the Patient Voices Network. Using evidence-informed strategies, the Council shifts culture, improves clinical practice and advances person- and family-centred care to support high-quality care for every person in our province.