PREPARED BY:
Planning and Strategic Initiatives
DATE:
November 20, 2023
SUBJECT:
Q3 2023 Board of Health Feedback Survey Results
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
The Ontario Public Health Standards (2021), under the Good Governance and Management Practices Domain, states: “the board of health shall have a self-evaluation process of its governance practices…”.
In addition to a yearly self-evaluation process, the WECHU has developed a quarterly self-assessment survey for Board of Health (BoH) members. The survey provides an opportunity for feedback on BoH operations and is used to inform quality improvement efforts.
DISCUSSION
Responses in the third quarter of 2023 related to BoH operations continued to be positive. In most cases, 80% or more of the responses were Agree or Strongly agree regarding the aspects queried. The one exception was related to the item ‘All material notices of wrongdoing or irregularities were responded to in a timely manner’, where 70% of the responses were Agree or Strongly Agree (20% of responses to this item were ‘Don’t Know/Unsure’). In terms of overall perceived BoH effectiveness, 70% of the responses were either a 9 or a 10 (on a 10-point scale), where the average score was 8.9.
Suggestions for improvement included future quality improvement efforts related to BoH operations and increased engagement with members of the community in public health efforts. Other recommendations included collaboration with all levels of the government and flexible approaches/use of technology to allow the BoH to respond promptly and effectively to new challenges.