Getting patients the care they need, at the right time and in the right place – while delivering an extraordinary patient experience – is the focus of our 2024–2029 Strategic Plan: Integrated Care for Healthier Communities.
The new five-year Strategic Plan marks the evolution from our Care Beyond Our Walls strategy, which guided us through the difficult days of the COVID-19 pandemic, to integrated care, which brings together different organizations, health care professionals, and service providers to support high-quality, holistic patient care.
“The past four years have brought unprecedented challenges to the health care system, but with any challenge comes opportunity,” says Jo-anne Marr, our President and CEO. “Our new Strategic Plan demonstrates our commitment to transformational leadership, bold innovation, and new partnerships to improve the health of the communities we serve.”
The new Strategic Plan – the first to be entirely web-based – was developed with input from patients and their families, community partners, staff, physicians, midwives, volunteers, board members, and donors. It includes new Vision and Mission statements, as well as three strategic pillars.
“Our new Vision statement – integrated care for healthier communities – represents our renewed focus on a people-centred approach that aims to make the patient’s journey through today’s complex health care landscape easier to navigate,” says Jo-anne.
Jo-anne adds that better coordination, coupled with the adoption of new technologies, will enhance system integration, reducing costs, increasing access to health care services and, more importantly, improving quality of care.
The new Vision is supported by a new Mission statement: deliver an extraordinary patient experience through our honoured to care culture. “This means that what matters to patients, families, and caregivers is truly valued,” says Anne Rouillard, the co-chair of our Patient Experience Participants.
Jo-anne adds that our commitment to deliver an extraordinary patient experience includes providing “consistent, safe, high-quality care, delivered with empathy, compassion, respect, and good communication.”
The new Strategic Plan focuses on three key priorities:
- People: Becoming a health system of choice to work, practice, volunteer, and learn in, while fostering a people-centred culture of belonging.
- Connections: Prioritizing collaboration, enhancing community engagement, and strengthening relationships with primary care, community providers, the Eastern York Region North Durham Ontario Health Team, and system partners to address the needs of all patients, including underserved populations.
- Growth: Addressing the needs of the patients and communities by expanding programs, services, and physical space, accelerating academic affiliations and research, and driving progress through innovation.
To develop the Strategic Plan, we engaged people through virtual and in-person meetings, staff interactions, community and patient surveys, and town halls.
“There has been meaningful engagement and everyone’s voice has been heard and valued throughout this process. This collaborative effort has resulted in a strategy that truly reflects the diversity and unique needs of our communities, as well as the unwavering dedication of those who tirelessly care for them,” says Mike Arnew, our Board chair. “Together, we have created a roadmap for the future that embodies our collective commitment to excellence in health care.”
As we implement our new Strategic Plan, Marr says the organization is looking forward to reimagining the delivery of care in today’s rapidly changing health care landscape. “Our sights are set firmly on the future – the highest quality of integrated care.”
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