health system
One Year in, Patient Ombudsman
Looks to Advocate for Fairness
By Stuart Foxman
I
Christine Elliott
n reflecting on her first year as Ontario’s
Patient Ombudsman, Christine Elliott
is clear about what the new office is
about above all. “We advocate for fair-
ness,” she says, “and hope we can make it an
effective part of health care.”
Ms. Elliott began her preliminary work in
early 2016, and her appointment came into
effect July 1, 2016. The Ontario Government
created the role to complement the work of
other bodies that handle patient
complaints, including the
Colleges, the Ministry
of Health and Long-
Term Care and the
Health Services
Appeal and Re-
view Board.
The Patient
Ombudsman
(patientombuds-
man.ca) focuses on
organizational or
systemic issues, rather
than complaints about
individual practitioners. The
office has authority to:
• Respond to unresolved complaints from
patients, residents and clients about their
health-care experience at a health-sector
organization.
• Investigate a health-sector organization on
the Ombudsman’s own initiative.
• Make recommendations to a health-sector
organization that is the subject of an investi-
gation, following its conclusion.
Ms. Elliott’s role isn’t just new to Ontario;
it’s unique in Canada. In other provinces,
ombudsman offices are responsible for overall
government activities but not specifically for
patients and health care.
The office has 17 staff, including early
resolution specialists, investigators, a policy
and research specialist, and a lawyer. The team
includes a doctor, dentist, nurse and social
worker. “Clinical expertise is very important,”
says Ms. Elliott.
In its first year, the Patient Ombudsman
has received about 1,500 complaints. Many
of them are complex and identify multiple
issues, but overall they revolve around several
main themes.
One common thread that weaves through
more tha n 60% of the complaints is commu-
nication or a lack thereof.
For instance, patients feel that they haven’t
been given everything they need to make fully
informed decisions, or that they’ve received
information in a way that’s hard to under-
stand. To the office, communications seems
to be the area of greatest opportunity for
improvement in health care.
Other significant themes emerging from the
complaints are coordination of care and access
to care.
Ms. Elliott and her team often hear about
the challenges in supporting people, especially
frail seniors, as they transition between care
settings. Some people have complained be-
cause they’ve been told to move from hospital
to a retirement home they can’t afford or to
a long-term care home they didn’t choose.
People also worry they won’t get sufficient
Issue 2, 2017 Dialogue
41