Health Quality Ontario’s 2013 annual conference brought together people from all sectors of the health system to exchange ideas and work together toward the common goal of more integrated, high quality care for Ontarians. Titled Health Quality Transformation 2013, HQO’s second annual conference for health system providers, partners and leaders took place in Toronto on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. The value of quality improvement in the mental health sector was highlighted in the conference session called “Learning from Success: Making Quality a Priority in Ontario’s Health System.” This particular session aimed to demonstrate how quality improvement has improved the patient and family experience of care and health outcomes. The mental health perspective during this session was provided by Dr. Phil Klassen and Sanaz Riahi of Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. A Multidimensional Approach to Restraint and Seclusion Prevention: A Mental Health Perspective.
Social determinants of health, interrelationships between health care, health promotion, community development and public safety, collaboration between health and non-health sectors was also a subject of discussion during the conference. In particular, the session titled Collaboration, Engagement, and the Promotion of Community Wellbeing highlighted the work the City of Guelph is taking to leverage community resources in order to accelerate sustainable change and improve connections to services. Presenters in this session will share how this collaborative approach to health delivery leads to the more efficient use of community resources to reduce demands on the health care and other systems and achieve better outcomes for individuals, families and the community.
Read more about the conference, its sessions and workshops on the Health Quality Ontario website.