Meaningful Engagement
engage in a meaningful conversation. The patients
who have participated in this new opportunity report
feeling as though they have been heard.
Another forum that is proving to be a rich resource
in helping us support our work in the public
interest is the Citizens Advisory Group (CAG). This
group brings the patient voice and perspective to
health-care regulation in Ontario. Members are
patients and caregivers from across the province
who provide essential feedback on standards of
practice, policies and priorities directed at the
public. The Group supports 18 of Ontario’s health
regulatory colleges who want to include patients in
their decision-making. The College co-sponsored
multiple in-person meetings of the CAG in order
to solicit feedback on issues such as governance
modernization, physician advertising practices and
complementary medicine.
Participating
We believe that people want and need to participate
in the decisions that affect them. Our effort
to engage our stakeholders result in informed
expectations that are practical, relevant and serve
our mandate of protecting the public.
One of the College’s roles is to provide guidance to
physicians on matters that relate to their practice. The
development of relevant, reasonable policy is one of
the ways that we provide this guidance.
We work hard to ensure that our policies are
evidence-based, fulfill the College’s public interest
mandate, and provide clear, useful guidance to
the profession and public. A crucial step in our
development process is to find out what patients and
physicians think. Is the proposed policy workable,
practical and reasonable? Our consultations are the
best forum to provide this feedback.
important information about our regulatory work here
in Ontario.
We also now provide patients with the opportunity to
share good news stories about their encounter with
an Ontario doctor. Our new Compliment a Physician
section has been a hit with patients eager to tell of a
positive experience.
As part of our commitment to modernizing our
communications and reducing our environmental
impact, we developed eDialogue, an online version of
our quarterly magazine. The first issue appeared in
early January 2020.
Our presence on social media also allows us the
opportunity to help celebrate such days as Doctors’
Day and International Woman’s Day.
We have been impressed with the calibre of the
discussions. The insights are balanced, nuanced
and extremely valuable to helping the College fulfill
its mandate of public protection. In late 2019, the
College became Chair of this partnership.
Sharing
Digital communications allow us to communicate
to all our audiences in a way that is clearer, more
engaging, more immediate and more accessible.
In April 2019, we launched a refreshed website
that makes it easier for doctors, patients, medical
students and other health-care stakeholders to find
Photo: iStockphoto.com
38 // CPSO ANNUAL REPORT 2019