The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (ministry) has announced the launch of the fourth annual Minister’s Medal Honouring Excellence in Health Quality and Safety. This annual recognition program aims to honour exceptional work across the health system and showcase successes in cross-sector collaboration of health system partners to deliver high-quality, patient-centred care across the continuum. The focus of the 2016 program is on recognizing programs/initiatives that align with the four key objectives outlined in the Patients First: Action Plan for Health Care: Access, Connect; Inform; Protect. This year, we are also placing additional emphasis on patient engagement, seeking applications that demonstrate successes in engaging patients in the delivery of high-quality care. Given the high volume of excellent applications submitted over the past three years, the ministry is encouraging any previous applicants to reapply. Applicants that can describe the evolution of their program/initiative, with an additional year of results to demonstrate success, would be considered excellent candidates.
Why apply for the Minister’s Medal?
The Minister’s Medal is a prestigious and competitive recognition program that aims to highlight the successes of Ontario’s health system partners in providing excellent, high-quality, and patient-centred care. It provides a platform to honour and showcase achievements of health system partners, and allows for sharing of these successes across the system. Benefits of being recognized through the Minister’s Medal include:
- Participation in the award presentation at Health Quality Transformation, Canada’s largest conference on health care quality.
- A short video showcasing the successes of the winners and the impact their work has had on the lives of patients.
- Increased profile across the province and beyond, increasing potential for additional partnerships and collaboration.
- Recognition and increased engagement of front-line staff dedicated to delivering high-quality care to patients.
“Winning the Minister’s Medal was an honour and a privilege. It was a seal of approval, demonstrating that our program achieved a high mark of distinction in quality and safety” – Dr. Linda Lee, 2014 Minister’s Medal winner (individual champion) “We have been able to use winning the Minister’s Medal as a stepping stone to scale our program at a provincial and national level” – Dr. Nathalie Fleming, 2013 Minister’s Medal winner (individual champion) “The key to a successful health care system is having truly inspired, engaged and well supported front line staff and I believe the medal win helped with continued engagement of our front line teams.” – Dipti Purbhoo, Senior Director, Client Services, Toronto Central CCAC – 2014 Minister’s Medal winner (team-based initiative)
New for 2016 – Expanded Individual Champion Stream
This year, the ministry is expanding the individual champion stream by accepting individual applications that are not associated with a team-based application, to allow for more individuals to be nominated for their excellent work. The ministry is encouraging nomination of individuals by their colleagues, peers, or by the patients and families to whom they provide care. Application templates are now available for download from the Minister’s Medal webpage at http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/transformation/minister_medal.aspx. Applications are due to your Local Health Integration Network office via email by 5:00pm on July 15, 2016. The award will be presented to one team-based initiative/program and one individual champion at Health Quality Transformation 2016 on October 20, 2016. More information on the program, including profiles of previous years’ winners and honourees, is available on the Minister’s Medal webpage. AFHTO members have been recognized before, at the 2014 awards presentations. Consider submitting a nomination on behalf of your team. For any questions related to the Minister’s Medal program, please contact: ECFAA@ontario.ca