Winning Conditions

The Change Foundation to Ontario Government: Here’s how to create Winning Conditions to improve patient experience, integrate healthcare, sustain system.

The Change Foundation today releases Winning Conditions to Improve Patient Experiences: Integrated Healthcare in Ontario, advising the government to concentrate first on coordinating and connecting health services– and better patient experiences and a stronger, sustainable healthcare system will follow.

Change Foundation CEO Cathy Fooks says integrated healthcare is the key to better patient experiences, improved access to quality, safe services, and a stronger, sustainable healthcare system. But she says integrated healthcare is not yet possible in Ontario given the arrangements currently in place, adding that we need to create the winning conditions to yield a patient-centred system that provides value for our healthcare investments.

“The province is working on several fronts to improve healthcare quality, better serve patients and use resources more strategically. But we’re missing a game-changing shift,” says Fooks. “As long as the levers of healthcare change are grinding against each other, real progress will be slow. We need to embrace team-based care. We need to strengthen regional planning bodies by giving them the scope, support, and structure to do their job; and we need to ensure professional interests don’t trump big-picture decision-making and the voice of patients and caregivers.”

Winning Conditions recommends 24 interconnected actions to improve care, governance, funding, performance, and information flow, outlining where we stand now, and where we need to go to improve the patient and caregiver experience.

Winning Conditions is The Change Foundation’s best advice on how Ontario can move closer to an integrated health system and improve the experience of patients and their caregivers. It’s based on work conducted and commissioned by the Foundation and published research. It draws on what we’ve learned from other jurisdictions, and is informed by discussions with government, policy experts, regional planners, and most importantly, the people who use Ontario’s healthcare system. Read the full Report , Concluding Comments, Recommended Actions and News Release .