September 15, 2022
ISSUE/PURPOSE
Strategic planning supports an organization’s focus and attention on priority work and helps key decision makers ensure how best to mobilize work in support of these priorities. This plan can assist organizational leaders and staff to make today's decisions with future outcomes in mind. At the April 21, 2022 Board of Health meeting, WECHU leadership advised that the WECHU’s previous Strategic Plan had expired at the end of 2021. It was determined that the organization would proceed on the development of a shorter 3-year plan in the near term, supporting the organization’s transition process post-pandemic towards renewal and recovery.
BACKGROUND
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) initiated a renewal process for the WECHU Strategic Plan over the last several months. The Organizational Requirements of the Ontario Public Health Standards (2021) require that “The board of health shall have a strategic plan that establishes the strategic priorities over 3 to 5 years” (p.64). This process has involved consultation with the Board of Health, local community partners, and WECHU employees. The Strategic Plan will detail the organization’s vision, mission, values, and strategic priorities for the next 3 years.
A refreshed strategic plan allows the health unit to identify key priorities and directions over the next three years while building on the foundation of the 2017-2021 WECHU strategic plan. This plan will provide strategic direction to the ongoing COVID-19 response, support recovery from unintended population health consequences of the pandemic and help understand how best to engage and support our community as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to subside, with a specific focus on priority populations. The plan outlines our ongoing strategic priorities and introduces new ones that are relevant for the immediate local public health needs, adapts our organization’s values statements to the current climate, and sets objectives of importance for the WECHU’s priorities over the next 3 years.
This refreshed strategic plan will be continuously monitored against changes in community context and needs to determine Windsor-Essex County Health Unit’s future readiness to develop the 2027–2032 future strategic plan.
PROPOSED MOTION
Whereas, the WECHU is required to have a strategic plan in place per the Ontario Public Health Standards (2021) and,
Whereas, in support of the refreshed Strategic Plan, operational plans, measurement, and reporting components will be developed to support the implementation and monitoring throughout the duration of the plan and,
Whereas, the WECHU has previously established processes and communication strategies that can be used effectively to ensure the refreshed Strategic Plan is communicated to all employees, stakeholders and clients.
Now therefore be it resolved that the Windsor-Essex County Board of Health approves the refreshed WECHU Strategic Plan for immediate implementation through the next 3 years (2023-2027) and,
FURTHER THAT, and the Windsor-Essex County Board of Health will be provided with reporting components and updates about the plans implementation status and progress beginning in 2023 on a quarterly basis.