Report
2015-2016
Overview 2011–2016 The Réseau’s record over the course of our 2011-2016 Strategic Plan has been positive:
A strong and credible organization dedicated to improving the offer of French-language health services
- A high level of satisfaction among members regarding the opportunities and services provided by the Réseau: 91% of respondents felt that the Réseau was a credible and effective organization
- A renewed mandate as French-Language Health Planning Entity for the Champlain and South Eastern regions
- Expertise demonstrated by the relevance and scope of our advice
- Governance and management dedicated to achieving significant outcomes for the health of the Francophone community
An understanding of regional planning practices that is essential to further French-language services within the healthcare system
- Participation in an increasing number of healthcare planning initiatives
- Tailored advice to partners on issues affecting the planning and provision of French-language services
- The capacity to adapt and innovate in planning processes
Strategic influence with an increasing number of healthcare partners
- Significant Réseau contribution to provincial and national initiatives to find systemic solutions that will provide regional benefits: generating reliable data on Francophones, developing the active offer of French-language services, improving the practice of designation
A close relationship with the community
- An invested membership, with a tenfold increase in the number of individual members, from 60 to 600 since 2011
- Community participation in more planning initiatives
- A permanent invitation to take charge of one’s health – in French
Message from the leaders
Renewal and drive towards 2021
Our year has been full of positive results for the Francophone community and thought-provoking discussions about the future of French-language health services in Eastern and South Eastern Ontario.
The Réseau’s actions are systemic: they are carried out in close collaboration with the Champlain and South East Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs). They underpin our fundamental work with healthcare system partners and our community to effect real change in the Francophone population’s access to health services.
Our annual report highlights examples of times when we promoted the establishment of conditions to improve access: support for the development of active offer (notably through designation), measures to increase healthcare system accountability toward French-language services, information sharing, and the empowerment of our community to take part in its own health. We strongly believe that real improvement involves all healthcare stakeholders, and that the Réseau serves as a catalyst.
Our advice was taken into account in the Ministry’s consultations on proposed healthcare system transformations; in the development of the LHINs’ Integrated Health Service Plans; and in a number of regional, provincial and national planning initiatives. It contributed to the foundations of a three-year regional strategy on French-language health services that is aligned with the Champlain and South East strategic plans.
Our contributions to the healthcare system have been recognized by the province. We are proud that the Réseau’s mandate as French Language Health Planning Entity for Eastern and South Eastern Ontario has been renewed. With this renewal, the Ministry has reaffirmed its commitment to the Francophone community and acknowledged the relevance of the entity model at the provincial level.
The renewal also propels us towards our new 2016-2021 Strategic Plan, which definite goal is to improve access to French-language services within the healthcare system transformation. The Board of Directors tasked itself with consolidating the lessons learned over the last five years and positioning the Réseau’s actions with the goal of improving Francophone access. The process culminated with the presentation of the Strategic Plan to the membership at the Annual General Meeting in May 2016.
In the coming years, we will witness significant changes to the healthcare system. The Réseau is evolving and will be there to guide decision-makers to ensure that these changes will be beneficial to the Francophone community. We have laid the foundations that will help us build toward improved access, and we will continue to rely on our members and our community throughout the process.
We would like to sincerely thank the Réseau team and Board of Directors for their commitment, their dedication, and their determination to ensure that Francophones may live healthy lives in French.
Strategic Outcomes
Planning French-Language Health Services
We support regional health service planning by integrating solid pillars of French-language services: Francophone community priorities, measures to increase accountability toward French-language services, and the practice of active offer within the healthcare system.
This support is manifested in close collaboration on regional initiatives such as:
- Palliative care
- Mental health
- Senior care
- Health Links
We continue to advise healthcare organizations on the development or revision of their offer of French-language health service. Designation involves a rigorous process that helps agencies develop and guarantee the active offer of French-language health services to their Francophone clients. 51 agencies in the Champlain region and 12 agencies in the South East region are currently working toward designation.
This year, much of our effort was focused on the development and implementation of a suite of computerized tools to help designated and identified healthcare agencies track their progress toward the offer of French-language services. At a regional level, the data generated by these tools can help to identify gaps in French-language health services and to assess the healthcare system’s capacity to fill them.
To date, 111 agencies have adopted the tools and are using them as an action plan to develop the offer of French-language health services in the Champlain and South East regions.
This year’s designation support activities included the following:
- Information sessions on the computerized tool for Champlain and South East healthcare agencies
- Customized support of leads for French-language services at these agencies
- The development of an assessment process for verifying the compliance of designated agencies, to fulfil the provincial requirement
- The development of a regional identification process for healthcare agencies to be designated
Our Indicators
8 regional planning initiatives address needs identified by the Francophone population during our consultations.
76% of planning initiatives in which we have participated call for accountability regarding the advancement of French-language health services.
51 agencies are working with us on the development or update of their designation plans. This is a 24% increase over the previous year in the number of agencies we have helped.
3 healthcare agencies were designated, i.e. formally recognized by the province as official providers of French-language health services.
- Champlain Community Care Access Centre (all services)
- Montfort Renaissance (all services)
- St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre (4 new services in addition to previously designated services)
2 agencies in the region have been newly identified. The Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre and Addiction and Mental Health Services of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington will begin developing new French-language services to be offered to the Francophone population.
Involving Our Community
This year, we invited our community to take part in specific planning initiatives, and to offer input on the strategic focuses of two large-scale projects.
Through surveys, focus groups and in-depth interviews conducted with existing committees or during meetings convened for the purpose, Réseau members and partners had the opportunity to provide input on:
- Mental health services for youth in transition (collaboration with The Royal)
- Palliative care in Eastern Ottawa and South Eastern Ontario
- Strategic directions in the Champlain and South East LHINs’ 2016-2019 Integrated Health Service Plans
- Réseau issues and priorities as set out in the 2016-2021 Strategic Plan
Discussions focused on access to French-language health services and helped to shape the Réseau’s advice and actions. The following groups were asked to contribute: Corporate Members’ Committee, Citizens’ Committee on French-Language Health Services in South Eastern Ontario, healthcare and social services professionals in Kingston, Réseau members at the Annual General Meeting.
In total, more than 700 people participated in the discussions, including 260 Réseau members and partners involved in the development of the Strategic Plan.
The Francophone and healthcare communities also had the chance to participate in Carrefour Santé, Eastern Ontario’s French health expo for members of the public and healthcare professionals. Approximately 1,400 participants, 100 service providers and 17 partners came together for this event to share information on the availability of services and to encourage individual empowerment pertaining to one’s health.
Social media and the Réseau Express newsletter provided weekly resources and information on French-language health services to 1,700 subscribers.
Our Indicators
Individual Réseau membership grew by 21%. Three new corporate members joined our ranks: Hotel Dieu Hospital (Kingston), the Community Information Center of Ottawa/211, and the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre.
14 community engagement initiatives provided opportunities to identify needs, priorities and solutions.
17% of the local planning initiatives in which we were involved were subject to targeted community participation.
Réseau Membership
| Region |
Number of members |
% |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 605 | 100 % |
| Ottawa Region | 316 | 52 % |
| South East Region | 141 | 24 % |
| Counties of Prescott and Russell | 98 | 15 % |
| Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry | 39 | 7 % |
| County of Renfrew | 11 | 2 % |
| Member Category | Number of members |
% |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 72 | 100 % |
| Community Care Access Centres (CCACs), community support services and other organizations providing health services | 26 | 36 % |
| Community health, public health and primary care centers, and health promotion agencies | 13 | 18 % |
| Hospitals | 11 | 16 % |
| Mental health and addictions agencies | 11 | 15 % |
| Long-term care organizations | 8 | 11 % |
| Post-secondary educational institutions offering healthcare programs in French | 3 | 4 % |
Inspiring Collaboration
Obtaining data on the health of Francophones remains a priority in our work with our partners.
Through our pilot project, we were able to take a major step in the collection of linguistic identity data by the region’s 17 hospitals. An initial series of data on Francophone clients was provided to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). This data will soon be available for regional analysis.
The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) now recommends that its members use the linguistic identity collection questions recommended by the Regroupement des Entités de planification des services de santé en français de Ontario.
At the provincial level, we have maintained close ties with the other French-Language Health Planning Entities in order to work on shared issues. The Regroupement’s Joint Position Statement on the Active Offer of French-Language Health Services in Ontario contributed to discussions on health in French across the province, and from coast to coast, with the Société Santé en français’s decision to shape a set of arguments based on the statement.
At the request of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Regroupement provided analyses on the issue of French-language health services, including feedback on the Patients First action plan, which addresses healthcare system transformation.
As mental health resource network for Société Santé en français, we support French-language health networks across the country, as needed, by facilitating knowledge transfer and training. Our advisory role also includes the implementation of the Société’s mental health goals and collaboration with the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Our Indicators
3 collaborations have produced evidence-based data on French-language health services: our association with the South East LHIN and the Champlain LHIN, as well as our agreement with Entity 4 and the Simcoe North Muskoka LHIN, will enable us to carry out analyses on designation and on health service providers’ capacities to offer French-language health services.
6 provincial and national initiatives to improve access to French-language health services involve the Réseau as a major player. These projects require coordination of multiple partners and deal with linguistic variables, accreditation, mental health, the active offer of French-language services, telemedicine and health promotion.
Optimizing Our Operational Performance
This year, we sketched out an initial three-year strategy on French-language health services with the Champlain and South East LHINs.
Aligned with the regional 2016-2019 Integrated Health Service Plans, the strategy will provide our partners with a regional, multi-year, coordinated plan that will enable us to expand French-language health services in the region. The strategy relies on a continued collaboration with the LHINs, and it allows for the evolution of our respective roles within the current healthcare system transformation.
In preparation for the strategy, we conducted a performance evaluation. We examined our results, and re-assessed the logic models and evaluation frameworks in our Joint Action Plan with the LHINs and in our own Strategic Plan. These analyses helped to formalize our benchmarks and baseline levels in order to better measure our progress toward our objectives regarding access to French-language services.
The development of the 2016-2021 Strategic Plan led to an in-depth reflection on the part of our Board of Directors. The process involved contributions from Réseau members and partners in order to identify our organization’s issues, opportunities and aspirations. Ultimately, the document sets out the strategic framework for the Réseau’s future within the healthcare system and with the Francophone community from now until 2021.
Our Indicators
119 partners called on our expertise this year, which is a 9% increase over last year.
95% of our recommendations to the LHINs led to actions that helped to advance French-language services.
Financial statements
Revenue 2015-2016
$1,702,647
Expenditures 2015-2016
$1,718,077
Data is excerpted from the financial statements dated March 31, 2016, and audited by the Marcil Lavallée accounting firm.
Board of Directors
Individual Member Representatives
Mariette Carrier-Fraser, Ottawa region
Renelle Charron, County of Renfrew
Julie Chartrand, United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Jocelyne Contant, Ottawa region
Saint-Phard Désir, Ottawa region
Diane Hupé, United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Issam Massouh, Région du Sud-Est
Jean-Louis Tanguay, South East region
Vacant, Ottawa region
Corporate Member Representatives
Marc Bisson, Community health, public health and primary care centres, and health promotion agencies
Steven Golden, Long-term care organizations
Dr Bernard Leduc, Hospitals
Francyne St-Pierre-Givogue, Community Care Access Centres (CCACs), community support services and other agencies providing healthcare services
Frédéric Thibault-Chabot, Post-secondary educational institutions offering healthcare programs in French
Vacant, Mental health and addictions agencies
Executive Committee
Jean-Louis Tanguay, Acting Chair
Jacinthe Desaulniers, Executive Director
Saint-Phard Désir, Secretary
Issam Massouh, Treasurer
We would like to thank Line Chenard, Ottawa region representative, and Nicole Robert, representative for mental health and addictions agencies, who stepped down from their positions during the year.
Designation Committee
Diane Hupé, présidente, Chair, United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Suzanne Beaubien, Ottawa region
Josée Charbonneau, Champlain LHIN
Isabelle Giroux, Ottawa region
Jonathan Laflamme, Ottawa region
Nicole Lafrenière-Davis, United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Ginette Leblanc, Réseau
Jean-François Pagé, Réseau
Florence Péretié, South East LHIN
Yannick Raymond, Ottawa region
Partners
