Table 2 Recommendations for Public Engagement in the Ontario Wait Time Strategy
From: Public views on a wait time management initiative: a matter of communication
Foci | Operational Plan |
|---|---|
Shared Decision Making | 1) Create positions for public members on expert panels. |
|  |    create two public positions on each expert panel to help mitigate the potential power differences between 'experts' and the public |
|  |    provide training workshops to educate the members about the initiative, and on their roles and responsibilities for participating on the panel |
| Â | 2) Construct a Citizens' Council, consisting of the assembled public from the expert panels, to collaborate with the OWTS and provide ongoing advice on priority setting. |
|  |    engage the public in developing a definition of wait times that corresponds to patients' lived experience, identifying criteria that will serve as a guide to priority setting in general, and the selection of future target service areas |
|  |    advice of the Citizens' Council can be incorporated with that of other stakeholders |
Communication Strategy | 1) Create a communication panel, including expert and public members, to develop an effective communication strategy aimed at all stakeholders, especially the public. |
|  |    disseminate the actions of the strategy, and the rationales (how? and why?) used |
|  |    public members can advise the communication on what information about the strategy the public would like disseminated, and effective vehicles for message-framing |
|  |    efforts should be made to better design the website so that the public is not disenfranchised by misinterpreting information on the website |
Feedback & Appeals Mechanism | 1) Establish a formal feedback/appeals mechanism for all stakeholders, including the public. |
|  |    create a feedback section on the OWTS website - provide established questions about OWTS priority setting (e.g. What areas of care would you like the OWTS to include if its' priority areas are expanded?) |
|  |    conduct a series of randomly distributed mail out questionnaires to the public to obtain their views on the priority setting |
| Â | 2) Synthesize and analyze the feedback |
|  |    both the OWTS leaders and the citizens' council should periodically provide a public report on the feedback providing: a summary of the feedback, and the corresponding action(s) taken to address the key issues identified from the feedback |