MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Colleagues:
Peeter Poldre, MD
College President
At the heart of all our
conversations was a
shared understanding
that continuity of
care is an essential
component of patient-
centred care
I
’m pleased to report that
our Continuity of Care
policies were approved by
Council at its most recent
meeting. I can not overstate the
significance of these four inter-
related policies – they touch
on so many practical, every day
clinical matters of importance to
both patients and their physi-
cians. And their overarching
theme of effective communica-
tion, collaboration and patient
engagement are in complete
alignment with the aspirations
of Ontario Health teams.
We took our time with this
policy. It was important that we
get it right and strike the right
balance. Our work began in
2016. After approving the draft
content for an external consul-
tation, Council supported the
Ontario Medical Association’s
request that the consultation pe-
riod be extended from the usual
two months to six months to al-
low for appropriate engagement
on this important initiative.
Given the significance of en-
suring continuity of care in the
work that we all do, we needed
to look at these expectations,
and have others look at these
expectations, from every con-
ceivable angle.
To that end, we undertook
many other engagement ac-
tivities during this period, in
addition to the external consul-
tation. We held multiple meet-
ing with the Ontario Medical
Association to identify areas of
agreement and areas of practi-
cal concern. At the heart of all
our conversations was a shared
understanding that continuity of
care is an essential component
of patient-centred care and is
critical to patient safety. And we
ISSUE 3, 2019 DIALOGUE
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