Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care Strategic Plan 2009-2012 The Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care provides end-of-life care to those who are dying from a life-threatening illness, and makes support available to their families. Since 1986, we have been providing palliative care at Mount Sinai Hospital and in patients homes across Toronto, and are now one of the largest palliative care programs in Canada. As we have grown through the years, we have expanded our services and initiatives, including: medical care, support and education for dying and grieving children and their families through our Max and Beatrice Wolfe Children s Centre and its Dr. Jay Grief Program learning opportunities for students and health professionals to help them develop their understanding and skill in the area of palliative care a research program that enhances the knowledge of how to improve the care that we and others provide. With 20 years of service under our belts, we launched an extensive strategic planning process in 2007 to provide us with direction in light of the evolving health care environment and the needs of our patients and families. This planning process involved: a review of key planning documents from other organizations such as the Central and Toronto Central Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) interviews with key stakeholders within Toronto s palliative care community, including families that we have supported and who are now supporting us through donations of money and time considerable input and involvement by our professional and administrative staff through staff retreats, surveys and electronic communication. A University of Toronto affiliated patient care, teaching and research centre
Core values, purpose and vision Early in the strategic planning process we quickly learned that we needed to re-examine the Centre s mission and vision - we had evolved so much as an organization that we had outgrown the existing objectives. Through our staff s determination, creativity and patience, we have collectively articulated the Centre s updated purpose, core values and vision for the future. Humanity The dying and grieving deserve passionate palliative care that serves their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Core values Collaboration Compassionate palliative care requires the efforts of many, including the patient and family. Innovation We promote continual learning and teaching to improve others and ourselves in creative and responsible ways. Communication We are committed to communicating openly, honestly and respectfully with our patients, their families, our colleagues and each other. Core purpose We comfort, counsel, explore and teach to make dying understood as an integral part of living. Vision We will continuously improve the palliative care of patients and families in the community by using research, teaching and advocacy to drive system-wide change. Strategic directions With our understanding of who we are and what we stand for, we were able to confirm our direction for the future. Collectively, we agreed to five strategic directions that we believe will guide us for the next three years to further this vision. Role of the Temmy Latner Centre in the current health environment Organizational development and sustainability Working in interprofessional teams Children s palliative care and grief Academic development Following is a summary of the issues that resulted in the identification of these strategic directions and the goals that will support them.
Role of the Temmy Latner Centre in the current health environment New and recently re-organized systems such as the Local Health Integration Networks, Community Care Access Centres and the Family Health Teams present opportunities for exploring fresh roles and working relationships for the Latner Centre and our work. It is an important time for us to review where we best fit in the current and evolving palliative care environment. To define a clear and sustainable role for the Centre in the current health care environment Organizational development and sustainability In the past years not only has the number of physicians and staff at the Centre increased significantly (from 21 in the beginning of 2003 to 33 at the end of 2009) but the demand for our services has also increased. This rapid growth has brought into focus issues relating to our capacity and sustainability, such as: the ability to recruit and retain qualified staff in an increasingly competitive environment leadership development and transition development of structures and processes to support a growing organization the need to establish clear standards and quality improvement systems funding security, especially for non-physician positions and the Children s Centre. s To reinforce a working environment where the administrative and professional staff feel valued, supported, connected and informed To ensure that current and future human resources are used wisely and appropriately To improve our ability to use electronic medical records in an efficient and effective way To achieve sustainable funding for all programs To continue to grow our skill and capacity to integrate Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) principles into all aspects of the Centre
Working in interprofessional teams We recognize the need for a true interprofessional team approach among all members of the patient's health care team. This need reflects our experience and understanding that an integrated, collaborative approach to providing palliative care is the most effective and most desirable. Working in interprofessional teams will require an increased ability to partner with other individuals and organizations in the community, other academic centres, and major health care facilities. To increase the effectiveness of the community-based palliative care we provide by developing an interprofessional team core model that will address the needs of our patients and the community Children s palliative care and grief While children s palliative care and grief is acknowledged by many as a significant and unique contribution to providing palliative care to families, there is no indication that other health care institutions are doing broad planning in the area, or are aware of the issue or of the service we provide. To date, key partnerships with other institutions and organizations that work with children have not developed. To enhance the palliative care and grief services we provide to dying and grieving children and their families in the community Academic development The strength and effectiveness of our education endeavours are strongly regarded by external partners, yet they are also seen as an area for more development. The need for ongoing education and training at all levels is reflected in the planning documents of other parts of the health care system. While our research is limited now, there is strong internal and external interest in undertaking research that will not only broaden the understanding of palliative care in sectors in which we have expertise, but will also improve the quality of service delivery in the discipline. Other academic centres have expressed interest in research partnerships. To improve and expand the educational opportunities we provide to students and other health care professionals about palliative care
Work plan priorities To help us achieve our goals and further our strategic directions we have identified a number of work planning priorities in addition to the core, day-to-day work that we do. Our priorities for the first year include: Make a strategic decision as to whether community-based palliative care is our priority and the lens through which we prioritize our activities, taking into consideration the relationship between our hospital-based and community services, and our medical, grief and bereavement services Explore opportunities for increased involvement in long-term care for patients and their families Develop and implement an internal communication strategy Explore, develop and implement an expanded role for volunteers, initially within the Children s Centre Develop a plan to guide continuous quality improvement (CQI) within the Centre and support staff undertaking CQI projects Continue to develop and pilot-test a model (or models) of interprofessional care in collaboration with community partners Continue to develop and implement the infrastructure to support Camp Erin Develop and implement support groups for grieving children and teens Strengthen our current infrastructure, policies, procedures and curriculum of our educational programs Develop programs to educate professionals and students about children s grief Develop and provide opportunities for our professional staff to enhance their teaching skills Develop a research strategy for knowledge translation and dissemination of our research to inform clinical work and improve the outcomes for patients Secure funding to support an enhanced research infrastructure Continue to collaborate actively with internal and external research stakeholders For more information For more information about the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care and our strategic plan, please call at 416.586.4800 x 7884, email at info@tlcpc.org or visit our website at www.tlcpc.org. 2009 Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care