Patient, Family & Caregiver Advisory Council 

The purpose of the CND OHT PFAC is to increase access to care, improve care coordination and collaboration, and improve health outcomes and experiences for everyone accessing CND OHT services. This will be achieved by engaging with patients accessing health, community and social services, as well as their families and caregivers.  Members of the PFAC will have the opportunity to become involved on various CND OHT working groups to aid in our goal of centering community perspectives, values, and needs.  PFAC members will meet once a month, while working groups have varying meeting times and commitments.

The members of the PFAC will work in collaboration with OHT members and partners to shape health, community and social services.  Patients, family members and caregivers will act as partners with their expertise and concerns informing the decision-making process of every project from beginning to end.  PFAC advisors will be embedded at both the implementation level and decision-making level to ensure .the patient voice is included at every table.  These implementation groups include:

• Connecting Care Co-Design Advisory Committee – How we build bridges between care providers to improve transitions
• Medically Complex and Older Adult Work Stream
• Mental Health and Addictions Work Stream
• Quality Co-Design - How we make the healthcare system better
• Communications Working Group – How we share information in the healthcare system
• Governance and Accountability Working Group – Decision making and governance of the healthcare system
• COVID-19 Response Table
• Health Equity Working Group (currently yet to be developed) - How we ensure everyone is receiving the services and access they need

Taking on the position of a PFAC advisor is an active role, where your contributions guide improvements and open possibilities for change in the region’s social, community, and health systems.  This role will provide you with opportunities to share your personal experiences with the services (both positive and negative), share your personal perspective, as well as represent the experiences and perspective of service users in general.  Acting as a PFAC advisor is your chance to proactively speak up and advocate for yourself as a patient, family member, and/or caregiver in the context of ongoing projects run by the OHT (rather than immediate personal situations).  You will also be encouraged to expand your perspective beyond your own experiences and consider the needs and preferences of other service users in the community.   Your position as an advisor will allow us to incorporate your suggestions into our projects and use your expertise to guide the development of new and improved processes, programs, services and methods of collaboration across service providers.  Your ideas and participation in the PFAC will improve community engagement in planning and decision making across health, social and community systems in Cambridge and North Dumfries. 

The time commitment for PFAC members is a minimum of one hour monthly. Ideally there will be representation from the PFAC on all CND OHT projects, the commitments for which can range from 1 hour biweekly to 1.5 hours twice a year.

We ask that all PFAC members commit to a minimum term of one year, to a maximum of five years.

Anyone who meets the following requirements is encouraged to indicate their interest in becoming a PFAC member:

• You are 18+ years of age
• In the past five years you have acted as a patient, family member or caregiver
• You or your family member or person you care for accessed social, community, and/or health services in Cambridge and/or North Dumfries

Beyond these requirements, we will consider those interested in joining the PFAC on the basis of their experience, skills, perspective, interests, and ability to meet expectations.  Demographics such as geography, age, gender, race, disability, educational level, languages spoken, identification within a minority population, identification with a priority population, attachment to primary care, and types of services utilized will be considered.  Our priority populations for the first year include those with mental health conditions, those with addictions, those who are medically complex, those who are frail, and older adults.

Key qualities we will be looking to include:

• Respects diverse identities, beliefs, histories, cultures, abilities and opinions
• Able to work collaboratively with staff and other members of the public
• Respects privacy and confidentiality
• Able to provide constructive advice
• Confident in speaking in a group
• Able to represent the concerns of patients, families, and caregivers including and beyond personal experiences
• Able to share personal experiences in ways others can learn from
• Passionate about transforming health, community, and social services

If you are interested in becoming a member of the CND OHT PFAC, contact us at [email protected].