Inaugural Cobourg event brings together hospital, healthcare leaders
By West Northumberland Independent staff
Professionals and volunteers from a variety of hospitals and health-care organizations from around Northumberland recently had the chance to gather with provincial and international leaders for a day of knowledge-sharing aimed at keeping people “at the centre of every decision in healthcare.”
Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH) hosted its first “Experience Symposium” earlier in September at the Best Western Plus Cobourg Inn and Convention Centre. The purpose of the event was to bring people together to celebrate achievements, examine common challenges, and identify opportunities and tools to enhance the human experience in healthcare.
The event drew attendees from a mix of small- and medium-sized hospitals and health-care organizations.
“For a long time, health-care organizations were much better at measuring what we did to and for patients, than understanding what care actually felt like for them, said Susan Walsh, president and CEO of NHH and co-chair of the Ontario Health Team-Northumberland (OHT-N), in a statement.
“The Excellent Care for all Act helped open the door in Ontario to make patient experience more visible and connect patient, caregiver and provider voice closer to the places where decisions are made. But the legislation is only a beginning.”
For several years NHH has been striving to elevate the human experience, she continued.
“We are so pleased with the interest shown in this inaugural event, which was designed to help us learn, adapt and grow together so that we can find ways to expand this work and keep people at the centre of every decision.”
Through presentations, panel discussions and networking, the symposium highlighted a mix of topics, including legislation, specifically, Ontario’s Excellent Care for All Act, which was the focus of the opening address from Walsh.
Guest speaker Claudette Moulton, a healthcare safety and risk management specialist, and Gordon Slemko, general counsel, both from HIROC, explored Canada’s Apology Act.
A panel discussion, facilitated by Dr. Emma Smith, a local family physician and NHH quality and safety physician lead, looked at the growing use of experience data to drive meaningful improvements, with expertise shared from the Ontario Hospital Association’s Sue Bhella, manager of patient experience, Trillium Health Partners’ Adam Gdyczynski, senior corporate lead, patient experience, and NHH’s Graeme Bakker, patient experience lead.
A second panel discussion, moderated by Bakker, explored the role of volunteers in patient, provider and community experience, with participation from NHH’s board (Laina Andrews, vice-chair), foundation (Rhonda Cunningham, CEO), Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) (Gillian Robinson, PFAC partner) and NHH’s auxiliary (Deb Smelko, vice-chair of the NHH Auxiliary Board and co-ordinator of the Hospital Elder Life Volunteer program.)
Alison Kilbourn, acting executive lead of strategic partnerships and innovation at the Ontario Caregiver Organization (OCO) and manager of the OCO’s Essential Care Partner Support Hub, concluded the event with the latest research into the critical role of caregivers in healthcare.
Speaking to NHH’s own journey, Jennifer Gillard, vice-president of patient experience, public affairs and strategic partnerships, described NHH’s work to include patient, caregiver, provider and volunteer voices, including the steady growth of the hospital’s PFAC, which celebrated 10 years of active contributions at the symposium, and more recently, the co-design of the NHH “Experience Framework” to help guide experience priorities and monitor progress.
“What we’ve learned along the way is that human experience is not a project with a finish line,” said Gillard. “It’s an ongoing commitment – an infinity loop.
“It’s built one interaction, one conversation, one relationship, and one act of trust at a time,” she explained. “Our NHH Experience Framework, co-designed through generative discussion with our teams and supported by the global work of the Beryl Institute, gives us a common language and a shared direction.”
She said the hospital has made “important progress, but we are still early in this journey. And that journey continues, every day, together.”
Regional partner organizations who participated in the symposium included the OHT-N, Community Care Northumberland, the Northumberland Family Health Team and the Community Health Centres of Northumberland.
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