If your question has not been answered below, please visit our About page for more information or email us at info@healthqualitybc.ca.
The Ministry of Health held consultations with interested parties through 2007/08 to discuss developing a provincial approach to patient safety. One of the key elements identified was the need for one organization to serve as a focal point for patient safety and quality improvement in British Columbia.
In the February 2008 Speech from the Throne, the provincial government committed to establishing a patient safety and quality council to “enhance patient safety, reduce errors, promote transparency and identify best practices to improve patient care.”
Click here to learn more about our Vision and Values.
Some of it was for practical purposes. BC Patient Safety & Quality Council and its acronym BCPSQC are long and difficult for people to remember and say. Health Quality BC, or HQBC, is easier for partners in care to remember. (We do still refer to our oversight body as a Council, and its members as Council members.)
More than that, the change affirms our identity and our place in BC’s health care landscape. It more succinctly reflects what we do – because what’s really important to know is that while our name changed, we did not. Our goal and purpose remains constant: We relentlessly pursue the provision of quality health care that is sustainable for all British Columbians.
Click here to learn more about our name change.
HQBC has a number of key roles and responsibilities, including:
- System-wide leadership and coordination
We provide advice and recommendations; lead and coordinate the development of safety and quality initiatives; and bring together interested parties as required in response to emerging safety and quality issues.
- Measurement and evaluation
We monitor, assess and report on the quality of health services; assist in the development of safety and quality indicators; and foster the development of best practices.
- Policy, regulation and legislation
We provide advice regarding health care policy, legislation and regulation to advance the patient safety agenda in BC.
- Education and professional development
We promote improvement in patient safety and care quality through education and training programs that we operate as well as programs operated by other organizations.
- Information and communication
We engage the public in its own care, and develop programs and activities for this purpose; and we develop ways to improve transparency and accountability of the health system to patients.
Read about our mandate here.
HQBC collaborates with key health care partners throughout British Columbia, Canada and internationally. It supports health authorities and other service delivery partners in their continuous efforts to enhance patient safety and improve the quality of patient care.
“Quality” is one of those words where, if 10 people were polled, 10 different definitions could be provided. In essence, when used in a health care setting, a common definition involves how well the right care is delivered to the right patient at the right time.
We created the BC Health Quality Matrix in order to provide a common language and understanding about what health quality is and how it is measured in British Columbia. The Matrix assesses quality from individual patient/client, population and system-wide perspectives.
Click here to learn about the BC Health Quality Matrix.
Our work takes its shape from the priorities of British Columbia’s health care system. We move to where we are needed, collaborating with patients, caregivers, the public and those working across all areas of care in our relentless pursuit of quality.
Council members are generally people with expertise and experience in patient safety and quality improvement, including:
- Extensive and recent clinical experience;
- Legal expertise;
- Expertise in patient safety, quality improvement, and clinical risk management in the health care system;
- Knowledge of best practice and implementation of innovation in the health care system;
- Knowledge of health services research, measurement and evaluation;
- Knowledge of clinical epidemiology; and
- Significant experience at a senior executive level within government or in the private or academic sectors in British Columbia.
HQBC has more than 50 staff members who work out of HQBC’s office in Vancouver as well as in locations throughout the province.
Meet our team here.
We are accountable to the Minister of Health, but we are not part of any health authority, nor are we a non-profit or an advocacy organization – we are a standalone government body. We work at arms’ length from the Ministry of Health and other health care bodies. Our funding comes directly from the Ministry of Health.
No. We do not provide any health services, and we do not receive complaints about quality of care. There is a separate Patient Care Quality Office in each health authority to address complaints. If you would like to make a complaint regarding the quality of a health care service you received within a health authority, please contact the Patient Care Quality Office within that health authority.
If you have been unable to resolve your complaint through the health authority’s Patient Care Quality Office, you may submit a review request to the Patient Care Quality Review Board.
The review boards have been set up specifically to review patient complaints.
If a patient is dissatisfied with a health authority’s response to their complaint, then they can request that a review board look into the matter. A review may or may not result in recommendations to the health authority pertaining to patient safety or quality improvement.
If you wish to request a review of the health authority’s management of a complaint, please visit the Patient Care Quality Review Boards website.
