Our Commitment to Equity

The Office of Equity is mandated to lead organization-wide equity efforts; and mainstream equity, diversity and inclusion best-practice into the structures, systems, policy frameworks, programs, customs and day-to-day practices at Women’s College Hospital; in alignment with the hospital’s Strategic Priorities.

The Office:

1. • Draws from research, scholarship and evidence-based best-practice, to provide intellectual leadership in advancing inclusive excellence across all spheres of activity at the hospital

• • Advances, in partnership with relevant stakeholders, Women’s College Hospital’ health equity and well-being agenda to nurture a culture that promotes improved, equitable health outcomes for patients, families and Women’s College Hospital staff

• • Reviews and develops institutional policy frameworks to harness synergies and support inclusive excellence

• • Champions and leads institutional and patient data collection and analysis to identify EDI gaps, implement strategies for enhanced inclusion, inform health equity and improve health outcomes for all relevant Women’s College Hospital stakeholders

• • Implements a robust communications strategy, including developing online web content and learning and reference resource

• • Develops a comprehensive curriculum across various learning platforms to advance capacity around issues of equity

• • Develops a monitoring and evaluation framework to measure and track progress on KPIs to improve immediate and longer-term outcomes

The work of the office to fulfil its mandate is informed by definitions of:

1. • Equity as the ideological and resource commitment to the removal of systemic barriers, to produce Equal access to opportunities and outcomes:

     • • Observed in Policy and Practice.

• • Diversity as the existence and intersection of difference in demographics, worldviews, knowledges, and experiences:

    • • Observed as the recruitment and retention of diverse persons, talents and perspectives.

• • Inclusion as the creation of feelings of connectedness and engagement:                            

    • • Observed in environments where all feel respected, uniquely valued and empowered to be their authentic and best selves.

The corporate commitments below are a road map to support our journey:

1.0 Introduction of the sustainable structures and support for WCH stakeholders

1.1  Creation of “Office of Equity”
1.2  Recruitment of Director role and resources to support Equity
1.3  Introduction of WCH Corporate Equity Committee (CEC)
1.4  Introduction of Board Task Force – Anti-Black Racism
1.5  Development of an organizational education plan

2.0 Development of an Anti-Black Racism Plan

2.1  Development of a multi-year plan with multi-level strategies to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to anti-racism and anti-oppression (includes Equity/Health Equity)
2.2  Development of implementation plan to support a sustainable approach applying a lens of transparency, accountability and sustainability
2.3  Develop and Implement an Employment/Practice/Volunteer Equity Program

3.0 Development of a Monitoring & Evaluation Framework

3.1  Develop a demographic based information collection approach inclusive of our patients, staff, volunteers and physicians
3.2  Identify Key Performance Indicators to monitor and evaluate our journey
3.3  Design engagement process to obtain qualitative feedback
– Such as potential sub-committee of CEC – Black Association or Affinity Group
– Engagement survey – annual evolved approach
3.4 Develop and Implement an Organizational Reporting process
– ABR Task Force of the Board
– Communication Plan
– Metrics identified across appropriate organizational scorecards

It will take six to eight minutes to complete the survey.

No. You can choose to answer these questions or not. You can stop answering the questions at any time or ask us to remove your answers at any time. For each question, select the response that best suits you. If you are not comfortable answering a question, please choose the ‘prefer not to answer’ response.

If you do not wish to provide a response for one of the questions, please select ‘prefer not to answer’ so we know that you did not want to answer it. This distinction is important so we can see what questions patients do not like or feel comfortable responding to.

Completing the survey is not mandatory, it is optional. Your decision about whether to complete the survey will not affect the care, services, and supports you currently receive at WCH.

Responses to the survey are not shared with other Toronto hospitals and as a result, we do not know whether you have completed the survey before. We would very much appreciate if you could complete the survey again, so we are able to better understand the patients we are serving at WCH.

If you select ‘No’ to completing the survey, but change your mind, you can register or log into your myHealthRecord to access the survey again. Once you login to your account, click the ‘Menu’ button in the top left, from the drop-down, select ‘Questionnaires’ which is where you can access the We Ask Because We Care Survey. It is located under the Optional Questionnaires section.

Yes, the Ontario Human Rights Commission strongly encourages organizations to collect and use demographic information to keep track of outcomes to promote equity. The provincial government, through Ontario Health requires all Toronto hospitals to offer this survey. As part of their local obligations, hospitals are required to collect health equity data to improve routine operational planning and service delivery.

WCH respects the confidentiality and sensitivity of our patients’ personal health information. Survey responses will be shared with Ontario Health in a summary combined with many other patients. Your specific responses will not be identifiable and will not include your name or other personal details when shared with Ontario Health.

Your responses will be viewable by your care team and your responses will be incorporated into your health record. Your health record is handled in accordance with Ontario’s health privacy law called the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). Click here to learn more about how your personal health information is collected, used, and disclosed at WCH.

Unfortunately, no. Your responses to this survey will be stored in your health record.

Ontario Health is a provincial agency created by the Government of Ontario to connect, coordinate, and modernize our province’s healthcare system. They collaborate with partners, providers, and patients to make the health system more efficient so everyone in Ontario has an opportunity for better health and wellbeing. One of their primary activities include measuring and reporting data at a provincial level to determine how the health system is performing.

WCH is committed to reducing health inequities and providing care for everyone. Factors like a person’s ethnicity, race, gender, income, and sexual orientation can impact their access to healthcare and their health. We understand that some questions may feel very personal or private; but by gathering this information we will be better able to reduce inequities in care and improve the services we offer at WCH.

We will study the results to better understand how factors like language, gender, income, race, and others are linked to health outcomes. These learnings will allow us to develop new programs and improve our services and staff training. This will enhance care for all WCH patients.

Your care team, who will have access to your specific information, may refer you to certain services, provide you with information or identify unique needs you have. For example, interpretation services to receive care in your preferred language or an accommodation for a disability.

When important work like this happens, change may feel slow, but we want to make sure that we are analyzing the data correctly and making the right changes. If you would like to play a more active role in improving care by sharing your insights on our programs and services, we encourage you to learn more about our Experience Advisor Program and consider getting involved.

The We Ask Because We Care Survey is separate from WCH’s Patient Experience Survey. This survey is linked to your health record, meanwhile the Patient Experience Survey is anonymous and linked to the department/service you received. It provides us with focused feedback on how your visit went.

WCH, in partnership with the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health (CWP-IH), is committed to delivering high-quality, culturally appropriate, and trauma-informed care for Indigenous peoples. WCH recognizes and respects the right of Indigenous peoples to self-govern and regulate their own data, including the right to own, control, access and possess Indigenous data and information.

Please note that if you choose to disclose your Indigenous identify, your response is viewable by your care team and stored in your health record. If you do not wish for your care team to know, please select ‘prefer not to answer’.

Taking part in this survey will have no impact on your immigration status. We want to make sure that no matter where you come from, or what your immigration status is, you get the best care possible. Additionally, we do not share your individual responses with external organizations.

Knowledge about income will help us inform you about services you may be eligible for and provide support for any unique needs you may have.

Research shows that income influences health. For example, someone’s income can affect where they live or what groceries they can purchase. Overtime the impact of these factors, among others, affect peoples’ health and can affect the level of care they receive. We want to reduce barriers to quality healthcare and ensure everyone receives the same level of care regardless of their income.

We know that many communities have, and continue to, experience systemic discrimination, inequality, and racism within the healthcare sector. Concerns about your information and how it will be used are important and reflect your experiences. This is also why we are collecting this information. It will allow us to better identify gaps in care, address how systemic barriers are impacting the health of our patients and allow us to improve access to health services. If you have a complaint or concern about your care at WCH, we encourage you to contact our Patient Relations Office at patientrelations@wchospital.ca

We respect the confidentiality and sensitivity of your personal health information. Additionally, your personal information is protected through privacy legislation, specifically the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004. Click here to learn more about how your personal health information is collected, used, and disclosed at WCH.

This toolkit aims to equip healthcare professionals with practical tools, insights, and strategies to effectively practice allyship, emphasizing inclusivity and cultural safety and cultural humility in healthcare settings. The framework covers the progression from allyship to accomplice and co-conspirator roles,with a focus on Indigenous communities, and supporting marginalized and equity-deserving groups such as Black, racialized, disabled, and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. It highlights the importance of active and intentional allyship in dismantling systemic barriers and fostering equity in research, policy, and healthcare practices.