CCAC invites you to help put patients first

Community Care Access Centre | Jul 16, 2015

Putting patients first, the South East CCAC (Community Care Access Centre) is seeking a few people who are passionate about improving health care delivery in the community. The CCAC invites patients or their family members who have received services from the South East Community Access Centre during the past three years to participate in a Patient and Family Advisory Council.

“The CCAC defines patient engagement as more fully involving patients and caregivers in program design and service planning,” said David Campbell, Public Engagement Lead for the South East CCAC. “The CCAC currently has methods of gaining patient feedback, but does not have a unified process to use this feedback to make our services more patient-centred. The goal of the Patient and Family Advisory Council is to have a more systematic method of providing patient feedback as well as provide a proactive method of providing patient and caregiver input on programs and services.”

One of the four pillars of the South East CCAC’s 2014-2017 Strategic Plan is to ensure patients and caregivers have confidence and trust in their care. One of the main components of this strategy is to more fully involve patients and caregivers in program design and service planning. The Patient and Family Advisory Council will be a central forum for patient engagement which will reflect the voice of the patient in planning our services and improving our current services from a patient perspective. The Patient and Family Advisory Council will ensure that a patient’s perspective is involved in the CCAC decision-making process.

“The patient advisor is not a patient advocate who advocates for a cause and is focused on one issue entirely from a patient’s perspective,” said Campbell. “Instead, a patient advisor is someone who can use their experience as a patient or caregiver to help offer advice on making services more patient-centred. A patient advisor can see beyond their personal experience to “see the big picture” and offer helpful suggestions to improve services.”

To view the Patient Advisory Council Handbook to discover if this council is right for you, visit www.healthcareathome.ca/southeast. If you would like to have this unique opportunity to have your voice heard at the CCAC, please contact David Campbell, CCAC Patient Engagement Lead at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-544-8200, ext. 4042.