Thursday, January 09, 2014
Invitation to Participate on Patient/Caregiver Advisory Group
The Rehabilitative Care Alliance has an exciting opportunity for patients, caregivers and members of existing patient advisory groups to inform the work of the Alliance by providing feedback on Alliance activities and direction through a Patient/Caregiver Advisory Group.
What is the Rehabilitative Care Alliance?
The Rehabilitative Care Alliance is a collective group of health service providers from across Ontario that is working to improve the patient experience and patient health outcomes in rehabilitative care whether that care is delivered in homes, community-based locations, long-term care homes or hospitals. Established in April 2013 by Ontario’s 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), the Alliance has a two-year mandate (until March 2015) to recommend changes in the health system that will ensure people have access to rehabilitative care when and where they need it.
The work of the Alliance is focused on four priorities:
- Develop common terms and definitions for rehabilitative care that will help patients, families and referring health care professionals access the care that will best meet patient needs, regardless of where in the health system the care is being provided.
- Develop health system wide best practices in rehabilitative care for frail seniors and people who have complex health conditions;
- Inform evaluation and planning of outpatient rehabilitative care services at the provincial, regional, organizational and program levels
- Support monitoring and evaluation of rehabilitative care services, programs and health system performance.
What is rehabilitative care?
Rehabilitative care is a broad range of interventions that result in the improved physical, mental and social well-being of those experiencing injury, illness or chronic disease, and can include physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology.
Why participate as a member of the Patient/Caregiver Advisory Group?
As an individual who is or will be accessing rehabilitative services, or who provides care for someone who needs or currently uses rehabilitative services, you have an opportunity to help inform the work of the Alliance. Your voice will be important in helping the Alliance to better understand how we can improve rehabilitative care at a health system level through the four major initiatives and deliverables that have been identified to date (http://rehabcarealliance.ca/mandate). Is the work of the Alliance on the right track? Will the proposed deliverables that the Alliance is working on help improve rehabilitative care for patients/caregivers? What’s working well now? How can we improve to make the patient/caregiver experience better?
What will the time commitment be?
Members of the Patient/Caregiver Advisory Group will meet for 1 ½ hours every 4-6 months between early 2014 and March 2015.
Where will meetings take place?
Because members of this group will be from across Ontario, technology (e.g. teleconference, computer-based webinar, etc.) will be used to enable you to attend from a location in your community (i.e. the LHIN office, your home or a local hospital).
Who do I contact for more information?
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Rehabilitative Care Alliance Patient/Caregiver Advisory Group or would like more information about participating, please contact [insert contact info] by [insert deadline date].
Please be prepared with the following information:
Name
Address
Phone Number
Email Address
Best days and times of the week for meetings
What are next steps once I have indicated my interest in participating?
You will be notified by email regarding the date, time and location for the first Patient/Caregiver Advisory meeting which will take place in early 2014.
Thank you for considering being among the voices that will help inform the important work of the Rehabilitative Care Alliance as we work to make the system work better for patients and caregivers across Ontario.
Rehabilitative Care Alliance, 520 Sutherland Drive, Toronto, ON M4G 3V9 rehabcarealliance.ca
|