Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results

The ministry has three goals for the health system:

1. High Quality Patient Care.
2. Improved Health and Wellness for British Columbians.
3. A Sustainable, Affordable Health Care System.

The relationship of these goals to each core business area's objectives, strategies and performance measures are laid out in tables over the next 23 pages. The first major section of tables is for Services Delivered by Partners, and Services Delivered by Ministry. The second section is for Stewardship and Corporate Management. Both sections are preceded by one-page descriptions of the objectives that pertain to them.

Performance Measures and Results

The plan also outlines a series of key performance measures. To stretch expectations and push for improvement all measures have targets out to 2006/07. For most measures, the baseline data year is 2002/03, the latest for which a full year of data is available. To provide context and continuity for 2004/05 targets and beyond, 2003/04 targets are shown.

Measures are linked to specific strategies. Monitoring and evaluating results will give an idea of progress towards achieving them. With each strategy accomplished, the ministry moves closer to reaching its objectives, and in turn, the health system goals.

Some measures' baseline figures are in per cent terms, while their targets are also in per cent terms. For example, PS-Performance Measure 3, which measures Alternate Level of Care (ALC) days, reads:

Baseline 02/03: 13.4%.

Target 03/04: 5% decrease over prior year.

The aim is to reduce ALC days to 12.7% (5% reduction from a baseline of 13.4%), not 8.4% (13.4% minus 5%). The same logic should be applied to all measures of this kind.

Core Businesses: Services Delivered by Partners, and Services Delivered By Ministry

Last year, the ministry identified five key objectives and related priority strategies to guide and lead major redesigns of health services. Four of the objectives relate to Services Delivered by Partners, while one is for Services Delivered by Ministry. These objectives and strategies remain the focus of health system redesign efforts.

Objective 1. Providing care at the appropriate level in the appropriate setting: We are working to ensure hospitals, community services and health professionals are used in the most efficient and effective way possible so that clients and patients get the right type of care in the right type of setting that will lead to the best health outcome.

Objective 2. Providing tailored care for key segments of the population: One size does not fit all in health service delivery. Customized care that expressly addresses the unique needs of patient subpopulations, such as palliative care programs for the dying, or specialized care for the frail elderly, can improve quality of life and health outcomes for patients and provide better use of health services.

Objective 3. Keeping people as healthy as possible by preventing disease, illness and disability and slowing the progression of chronic illness: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. Services such as health promotion and protection, and chronic disease prevention and management, are important to maintaining and improving health outcomes while containing overall health system costs. If we can keep people healthy and out of the health care system, we win on two fronts: people are not sick, and scarce resources can be freed up for non-preventable illness.

Objective 4. Managing within the available budget while meeting the priority needs of the population: We are committed to managing the health system efficiently and effectively to ensure scarce resources are spent where they will have the best impact.

Objective 5. Providing clients with equitable and timely access to services directly delivered by the ministry: The ministry will improve the services it provides directly to the public. Each service will be reviewed to determine the most appropriate and efficient method of delivery.

Core Business: Services Delivered by Partners.

		Goal 1: High Quality Patient Care

		Goal 2: Improved Health and Wellness for British Columbians

		Goal 3: A Sustainable, Affordable Health Care System

Core Business: Services Delivered by Ministry.

		Ministry Goals

Core Business: Stewardship and Corporate Management

The ministry's stewardship objectives and strategies are designed to assist our service delivery partners fulfill the objectives and strategies listed in the previous section, and ensure the health system is redesigned in accordance with government's strategic direction. Stewardship strategies are organized under three objectives, which represent the main components of effective stewardship: Strategic Direction, Support to Partners, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Course Correction.

Corporate Management objectives and strategies are in place to ensure the ministry's own administration runs as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Stewardship

Objective 1. Strategic Direction: The ministry's strategic direction for the health system must be well articulated and communicated to the public and to those who deliver services to the public. The ministry is committed to leading and fostering a culture in which health system activities are evidence-based, well planned and understood, and in which accountability structures exist to ensure strategic directions guide service delivery activities.

Objective 2. Support: The ministry supports its service delivery partners (health authorities and health professionals) to achieve the strategic priorities of the health system. It develops provincial plans for the future supply and effective use of health care professionals, equipment, technology and facilities to ensure the health system has the capacity to meet the population's health needs. The ministry supports health research activities and the development of best practices for service delivery, and develops legislative, regulatory and policy frameworks to manage the health system and protect public health.

Objective 3. Monitoring, Evaluation and Course Correction: The ministry monitors and evaluates the delivery of services and the health of the population to ensure services delivered in the system meet the needs of the public. As part of a commitment to continuous improvement and evidence-based decision making, the ministry uses its evaluations of health system performance to inform strategic intervention and facilitate course correction where warranted.

Corporate Management

Objective 1. Appropriate organizational capacity to manage the health system and efficiently deliver necessary services: The ministry is implementing a human resource strategy to ensure it can fulfill its stewardship role in the system.

Objective 2. Sound management practices in place: The ministry is committed to following sound business practices in order to operate in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

Stewardship

		Stewardship Goals

Corporate Management

		Corporate Management Goals