What is the system challenge?

In the mental health and addictions system, a client’s perception is widely seen as a key indicator of the quality of the care. Though many organizations gather feedback from clients using a variety of tools, there is no consistent way that this information is collected and reported.  Since there is so much variation in the types of client feedback surveys, the information gathered cannot adequately be used to guide quality improvement efforts at the program/service and system levels. 

What are we doing about it?

With support from CAMH and the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the OPOC-MHA survey tool is being implemented within Local Health Integration Networks/MOHLTC-funded addiction, mental health and concurrent disorders services across Ontario. The OPOC-MHA survey meets the need for a standardized perception of care tool used for informing, monitoring and evaluating quality improvements.

The OPOC-MHA provides a consistent way to gather client feedback in both community and hospital settings. This brings the client voice forward as a source of evidence to support program, agency and system quality improvement efforts

Perception of care asks about the care experience in relation to what is expected as “standard practice.” The tool asks six questions specific to a client’s experience and covers the following areas:

  • Access/entry to services;
  • Services provided;
  • Participation/Rights;
  • Therapists, staff, support workers;
  • Environment;
  • Discharge, program completion, treatment; and
  • Overall experience including recovery/outcome and service quality.

Demographic information is also collected to help organize the information and identify potential inequities in treatment. A central provincial database and report web portal gives organizations access to OPOC-MHA results which can be filtered and analyzed in a customized manner.  For example, organizations can select specific indicators they wish to track over time, examine data through a health equity lens, and then look at specific programs to support quality improvement efforts.  They also have access to aggregated, comparable provincial data.  

At the system level, Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) can access the results of their providers to identify system level quality improvement opportunities.     


Who is involved?

OPOC-MHA engages hundreds of service providers across all 14 LHIN areas. This includes addiction, mental health and concurrent disorder services, both community and hospital-based.  

Next Steps

OPOC-MHA implementation continues across the province.  The measure is also providing a foundation for collaborative quality improvement endeavors – check out the Continuous Quality Improvement Collaborative (Link to project page) 

Resources

For more information, please contact:

Renee Behrooz