Quality Councils

QUALITY OPERATIONS COUNCIL

GEOGRAPHIC QUALITY COUNCILS

The Geographic Quality Councils (GQCs) provide accountability to the geography executive director and executive medical director and report directly to the Quality Operations Council. The four Geographic Quality Councils function within the context of a geographic hub, addressing the needs of local sites and locally delivered services and align with organizational quality requirements. Each GQC recognizes the value of linkages and partnerships with community-based agencies and local external governance structures (e.g., school boards and municipal governments), as well as Local Medical Quality Committees, Divisions of Family Practice etc. A GQC is established for each of the four geographies.     

PROGRAM QUALITY COUNCILS

Reporting directly to the Quality Operations Council, the Program Quality Councils (PQCs) function within the context of the Quality Structure to address quality matters that pertain to the scope of a clinical service area. This ensures both organizational and medical perspectives in the development of expectations/standards in care, and includes external considerations such as Accreditation Standards, best practice guidelines, etc.  Program Quality Council membership should include representation from each of the geographies in which the service is provided.   

Committees with a quality assurance or quality improvement role not included here report into geographical quality councils or program quality councils, depending on their scope (geographical/local versus “program”). These committees must be properly constituted and recognized through the Quality Framework in order for the work they undertake to be protected under Section 51 of the Evidence Act.  Committees with a standard setting function will be represented through a PQC.  All committees with an implementation function will report through a GQC. The principles of patient-focused, multidisciplinary care and learning for improvement are applied to all quality committees.  All councils and committees are required to have patients or family members participate in and contribute to, their quality work.