On Friday, November 23, and Saturday, November 24, staff from St. Paul’s and Hornby came together to share their thoughts on the creation of PHC’s new 7-year strategic plan.
Julie, a patient of the hospital for more than 20 years, also joined the conversation, offering observations based on her positive experiences with Providence and providing a warm reminder of the importance of our patient-centred work. A volunteer with the organization also participated in the forum, adding insightful suggestions based on experiences both as a family member of someone in our care, and as a volunteer.
Several key insights* came up during the session when participants were asked to consider the big themes that will guide our organization’s work over the next 7 years.
- Housing, childcare and parking are significant hurdles for staff.
- The opioid crisis is taking a toll on our nursing staff; the responsibility falling on staff to prove their anguish needs to be looked at.
- While we are excellent at pushing the envelope and are known for our innovation, we need to make sure we are still taking care of the basics.
- To be the best we need to get the best, and provide the best service. Best means: clean, timely and efficient, getting to the bottom of the issue as soon as possible, valuing communication and prioritizing it with patients and their family.
- We often work in our silos and feel like we don’t have time to contribute or don’t know where to share ideas and feedback – if there was a clear channel for staff to contribute and see a change, that would be powerful.
- We need to talk to our patients not as patients, but as people.
- Our patient population feels very comfortable in our current facility at St. Paul’s. Are we still going to feel as accessible to the most vulnerable people if our campus at Station Street is state-of-the-art and brand new? How comfortable will our patients feel coming through the doors of the new site?
- We need to explore how we define compassionate care and have a clear process to flag when it’s not happening.
- We used to have the Sisters living here, which brought a real presence. Being faith-based sets us apart.
* Please note: this is a high-level summary; all sentiments discussed were fully captured by the table facilitators!
This recent Open Forum was part of a series of facilitated engagement sessions across PHC where employees, patients, residents, family members, clinicians, researchers and volunteers are invited to weigh in on the creation of a new 7-year strategic plan (2019-2026) for the organization.
Share your ideas on how to we should move forward as an organization at one of these upcoming Town Hall or Open Forum events.
See photos from this engagement session below.
