Posted on: March 1, 2023
If you are curious about the decision-making bodies that influence Island Health's clinical plans, policies and standards, you may be interested in work now underway within the Clinical Governance Improvement Initiative to define the roles, responsibilities and membership of some committees.
As of Friday, March 3 people across Island Health can read and offer feedback about the Terms of Reference for regional and organizational-level committees that will be responsible for clinical governance in the future. Terms of Reference provide clear, well-defined descriptions of each group's membership criteria, roles, responsibilities and decision-making rights. They enable committee members to work effectively, and help non-committee members understand how important decisions are made in Island Health.
You can read and provide feedback on Terms of Reference for:
The Integrated Clinical Governance Council (ICGC): This is a senior-level committee that will be accountable to the Executive Leadership Team. The ICGC will have a range of responsibilities focused on quality improvement priorities. Click here to see where the ICGC sits in the new governance model.
C.A.R.E. Network committees: C.A.R.E Networks are regional structures that will support shared decision-making to define, monitor and enable quality of care. There will be 13 C.A.R.E. Networks for broad service categories like Surgery, Mental Health and Substance Use and Long-Term Care. The goal of the Networks is to ensure that all point-of-care teams are striving to the same standards of care, and improving health equity of the population, regardless of where care is provided.
Each C.A.R.E. Network will include a Clinical Excellence Committee (CEC) and an Operations Excellence Committee (OEC). The CECs will be responsible for identification of clinical risks and responses, while the OECs will provide the expertise needed to make operational changes to clinical policies and standards. Working with local Quality and Operations leaders, the OEC and CEC in each C.A.R.E. Network will collaborate on quality improvement plans. Click here to see where C.A.R.E. Networks site in the new governance model or here to learn more about C.A.R.E. Networks.
Specialty Service Areas: Speciality Service Areas will be connected to clinically relevant C.A.R.E. Networks (eg: Trauma Speciality Service Area will be connected to the Surgery C.A.R.E. Network). They will still be responsible for staying apprised of best practices, monitoring clinical outcomes and developing improvement priorities that will feed into the priorities of the C.A.R.E Network.
- Learn more about what is changing in the new Clinical Governance Model
- After March 3, visit the CGII engagement page to read and provide feedback the Terms of Reference for new governance committees
Questions? Please email CGII@islandhealth.ca
ABOUT THE CLINICAL GOVERNANCE IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE: Island Health's Clinical Governance Improvement Initiative (CGII) is one of our top priorities. In practice, Clinical governance includes all of the processes that enable shared decision-making across disciplines and departments to design patient-centred care. This includes things like clinical policy and standards, clinical innovation, performance monitoring, quality improvement priorities and clinical service plans.
The goal of the CGII is to ensure teams have what they need to plan and deliver safe, high-quality care for patients, residents and families, regardless of their location or circumstances. To do that, staff, medical staff and leaders need transparent decision-making across our organization, as well as good clinical policy, consistent service plans, logical escalation pathways and access to expertise in areas ranging from specific population needs to data analysis, among many others.
Visit the Clinical Governance Improvement Initiative Intranet site and read our FAQs to gain a deeper understanding of this work and how the recommendations were developed.