Pondering radical health-care change across the pond: The latest Hot Talk on Health offers incisive insights from Baroness Barbara Young

Both jurisdictions will be challenged to reform their respective health systems to ensure sustainability, as well as improving quality and access - to do things differently to be able to do better with less.
- The Change Foundation's NHS Update (October 2010)

England's National Health Service (NHS) is in the middle of a major shakedown with radical reforms proposed by the Cameron-Clegg Coalition government as outlined last July in a White Paper: Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS. Chris Ham, Chief Executive of UK's leading health policy think tank, The King's Fund, calls the proposed changes "the most radical reforms since the inception of the NHS". The Change Foundation continues to keep a keen eye on this health-care landscape (see item below on the Foundation's paper updating our audiences on the reforms) with a long history of regionalization to glean learning for Ontario which faces similar challenges and imperatives - how to improve quality, shift our sights to creating a patient-centred system, and do so with constrained resources. In Ontario, we might ask: How to make the most of the opportunities that could emerge under Ontario's Excellent Care for All Act? Hear Baroness Young's speech (audio in two parts).

Stay current with health-care change in the UK: Read The Change Foundation's Update on reforms to NHS England - and how they might apply to Ontario

To coincide with Baroness Young's Hot Talk (above), The Foundation released an Update to our May 2009 international case study on the NHS, Recent National Health Service (NHS) Reform Proposals In England, An Update to Integrated Health Care in England: Lessons for Ontario (The Change Foundation, May 2009), November 2010. The brief analyzes the latest chapter in the NHS journey, assessing main UK change proposals and how they apply to Ontario's health-care system. The report also links to key reaction to reforms by The Kings Fund and The Nuffield Trust for Research and other respected UK policy voices.

The Foundation's Update outlines major proposed White Paper changes and how they apply to Ontario. Read the short Update and learn more about the UK's health-care reforms.

First Hot Talker Susan Dentzer on US health reforms: a big first step forward but real change will take a decade

Tune in for timely video replay as US mid-term election results test progress.

"On balance, most of us conclude that this is the best set of health reforms possible in a country that is very deeply divided in its belief in government.... We struggle with this as a people." -Susan Dentzer, Editor, Health Affairs, May 28, 2010

The US has taken a significant "step forward" with recent insurance reforms started under the Affordable Care Act said Susan Dentzer, Editor-In-Chief of Health Affairs, but real change embracing Canadian-style universal coverage and other fundamental elements of high performing systems will take lots more: time, ongoing commitment and deeper consensus.

The witty journalist captivated and enlightened her audience as The Change Foundation launched its first Hot Talks on Health last May, in partnership with The Canadian Club of Toronto. The award-winning on-air analyst said "history had called" but joked that Winston Churchill was still right: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they've tried everything else." She outlined how the promising new Act extends coverage to many more Americans by 2019, forecasted to blanket 65 million from the current 23 million.

Dentzer offered a brilliant yet breezy analysis of the policy and politics behind the US reforms and the opportunities and challenges ahead. She warned that "the politics is not over", rightly forecasting that Republicans would take back seats from Democrats in November mid-term elections, thereby potentially affecting the depth and pace of health-care reform. See video clips of her thought-provoking talk.

Want to interact with The Change Foundation more? Tell us which social media tools you use and prefer

Social media is redefining how the world interacts and The Change Foundation wants to join in the conversation by integrating the right mix of new media tools on our website. If the topic compels, do you, would you - tweet, friend, read blogs, chat, or comment? Please take five minutes to fill in our Fall 2010 website survey (12 questions) to help guide and inform this overdue upgrade. Your needs and preferences will help us strategically integrate the connective and collaborative power of social media to potentially tap into real health-care stories to inform our future work to improve the experience of caregivers and individuals as they move in, out of, and across our health system. These real-time, open access new channels will also help us better listen, respond and collaborate with you - our audience.

Of course, we also want and need feedback on key ongoing design and functional elements on our current site. What should we keep, change or lose? Is information easy to find and clear? What kind of information is most useful to you professionally - chart-packs, reports, commentaries?

To add incentive, we'll award two Apple IPod Shuffles by random draw to lucky survey respondents. Take our 2010 website survey. The deadline for reply is Friday December 10.

How safe is health care in the home in Canada? Ground-breaking research to find out begins

Diane Doran at the University of Toronto and Régis Blais of the University of Montreal will lead a winning research team (as co-investigators) exploring the prevalence, magnitude and risk of patient safety incidents in home-care settings across Canada. The Change Foundation is part of the $1 million Patient/Client Safety in Home Care Project led by The Canadian Patient Safety Institute. This wide study builds on The Foundation's past work and will help to inform future projects to improve the quality of home care. The project will be completed over two years, and results of this groundbreaking work will be shared widely, to inform changes in policy, practice and behavior in home-care settings.

Read the fall 2010 press release to see other project sponsors and see the social media release featuring a video interview with Diane Doran (English and French).

How to engage patients and families in improvement; Ontario hospitals reflect on the value of Releasing Time to Care™: new videos online from CHQI

"We've found that doing shift handovers at the bedside reduces anxiety for patients, when they're able to meet the incoming and outgoing nurses at the same time." The Quality Congress that wrapped up the year-long pilot phase of Releasing Time to Care™ heard these and other examples of positive change from the staff-led, data-driven improvement program. CHQI has launched Wave 2 with made-in-Ontario training materials, including a Reflections video that demonstrates how the program unleashes creative solutions to inefficiencies and interruptions that detract from quality care.

Check out CHQI's fall 2010 e-news, Quality Pulse for more news and resources.

Feedback appreciated. Please contact Anila Sunnak (asunnak@changefoundation.com).

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