​Dear Colleagues,

As three hospitals located in the City of Toronto, we serve a diverse population representing many cultures, religions and socio-economic backgrounds. To deliver care to such a diverse patient population, UHN has implemented many creative and forward-thinking initiatives (ex. Patient Centred Care, Workplace Diversity Training, Champion of Diversity Award) and programs (ex. interpretation and translation services covering 65 languages, multilingual patient education material, culture and language focussed clinical services) to support patients from all backgrounds. We recently submitted a plan entitled "Open Doors" to the Toronto Central LHIN outlining how UHN works to provide equity of access and quality of care for all patients through our programs, policies, initiatives and partnerships.

To build on our health equity practices at UHN, the report proposes several key initiatives:

  • Integrate health equity into the Quality Framework - It is recommended that the Quality Committee of the Board establish health equity indicators to be incorporated into our Quality Framework. Setting indicators will help ensure that we stay on track with improving health equity.
  • Build upon the cultural competency of the organization from theory to practice - Building on our approach to Patient-Centred Care (PCC), we will identify opportunities to strengthen the cultural competency of staff and inter-professional team approaches to health inequities.
  • Expand specific service capacities for specific populations with  proposed new funding - UHN is facing growing waiting lists and a lack of resources to provide care for specific patient populations.  


I encourage everyone to read our health equity plan. This plan will no doubt encourage discussions at all levels inside (ex. the Board of Trustees, the Senior Management Team, Patient-Centred Care Committees) and outside of the organization (ex. hospital Community Advisory Committees, LHIN), which I believe will help us to build on our current approach to health equity.

Bob

 

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