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French language services supports for Ontario Health Teams

To keep up to date on all news related to Francophone services and Ontario Health Teams, please sign-up for the French versions of RISE’s monthly newsletter and the OHT supports events calendar, and visit our archive of Francophone newsletters.

Improving equitable access to care and improving health outcomes and experiences is core to the vision for Ontario Health Teams (OHTs). As outlined in the , released in 2019, at maturity OHTs will be responsible for providing health services that meet the needs of their communities, including Francophones. This entails in part recognizing the value of French language health services and ensuring they are appropriately incorporated into a person-centred system of care for all Ontarians.

To support these objectives, OHTs can draw on the assets and resources that have been developed by health-system partners, including the French Language Health Planning Entities (FLHPEs), (please see  as well as each of the Entité’s websites: , , , , , ), and Ontario Health’s French-Language Services Regional Representatives.

Organized below by population-health management step and by each of the eight OHT building block, the following assets and resources provide guidance for all OHTs to strengthen French-language health services planning and design and ensure adherence to the (1990) for health-service providers that make up OHTs serving a Francophone . Designation under the FLSA is a legal and administrative process that allows health-service providers to demonstrate that they have the capacity to actively offer French-language services on a permanent basis while meeting the specific needs of the Francophone population they serve.

Resources to support OHTs’ planning, design and delivery of services that meet the needs of Francophones, as well as resources to support the engagement of Francophones, organized by population-health management step

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Step in population management approach, including implementation considerations 
 Resources
RISE Partner organizations Ministry Curated searches

Population identification

  • Describe the socio-demographic profile of the Francophone population using the Inclusive Definition of Francophone (in 2009, the Ontario government adopted the inclusive definition of Francophone, which states that Francophones are “persons whose mother tongue is French, plus those whose mother tongue is neither French nor English but have a particular knowledge of French as an Official Language and use French at home”) 
 
  
  • The Entités developed a provincial , including standardized and adapted data-collection tools based on linguistic identity
  • The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages published an  highlighting key facts about Ontario’s Francophone populations
  • Statistics Canada released a  (2001-2016)  
  • Ontario Health offers a free online  learning program, featuring the history, demographics and characteristics of the Francophone population to providers in the West Region (with expected expansion to the rest of the province in 2022-2023). 
  • using the inclusive definition of Francophones
  • Frequently asked questions about the
 

Segmenting and understanding barriers to care

  • Ensure navigation, case management and care coordination are available in French
  • Identify French-language service gaps and extend partnerships to design care pathways for Francophones covering full continuum of services
  
  • There are several resources describing the impact of language barriers on patient safety and quality of care among the Francophone population, including a  and the following reports:  
    

Co-designing care pathways and service mix 

  • Develop a community engagement plan that includes Francophones on committees and in consultations
  • Include Francophones in the co-design of programs and services
  • Develop a French-language human resources policy to support the active offer of French-language services including:
    • identification of the linguistic profile required for each position
    • recruitment of employees proficient in French
  
  • The Entités delivered a webinar on engaging and improving care for Francophone communities
  • Health Nexus and partner organizations have developed a number of resources on:
  • The Réseau franco-santé du Sud de l’Ontario developed an  to offer services in both official languages
    

Implementation and reach

  • Provide an active offer of French-language service including in line with the :
    • bilingual reception 24-7
    • mechanisms to proactively identify Francophone patients
    • care coordination and planning available in French
    • referral to French health services based on patient needs
    • all digital tools (including websites) are available in French including admission forms and client-facing documents available in French and actively offered to French-speaking clientele
    • visible identification of employees proficient in French
  • Ensure that contracts signed with third parties that offer services on behalf of OHTs include a clause stating their obligation to ensure the offer of French-language services
  
  • The Réseau du mieux-être Francophone du nord together with other Entités developed
  • highlighting the needs of Francophones in the Greater Toronto Area  
  • Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) developed a series of virtual care placemats to support:
    • access to mental health and addictions services during the COVID-19 pandemic ( and )
    • local access to virtual emergency care ( and )
  • OTN also has a searchable by language
  • The Réseau franco-santé du Sud de l’Ontario, in collaboration with Société Santé en français, developed , a learning platform to support the planning, implementation and evaluation of French language services in health, social services and/or community organizations
  • GREFOPS (a multidisciplinary and multiorganization research group) developed a
  • GREFOPS created a self-assessment
   

Monitoring and evaluation

  • Ensure performance measures across the quadruple aim are calculated and reported by linguistic identity
  • Ensure a mechanism is in place to evaluate satisfaction with French-language services (i.e., satisfaction survey)
  • Ensure a complaint mechanism is in place for French-language services
  
  • The Entités developed a provincial guide on the  including sample questions
    

Resources to support OHTs’ planning, design and delivery of services that meet the needs of Francophones, as well as resources to support the engagement of Francophones, organized by OHT building block

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OHT building blocks

 Assets and resources
RISE  Partner organizations Ministry  Curated searches
Building block #1: Defined patient population (who is covered, and what does ‘covered’ mean?)
  
  • The Entités developed a provincial . This guide also provides standardized and adapted data-collection tools to inform French-language health service based on linguistic identity
  • The Réseau franco-santé du Sud de l’Ontario, in collaboration with Société Santé en français, created , a guide to support providers to self-assess the status of their offer of French-language services, identify next steps through recommended strategies and develop a personalized action plan
  • Statistics Canada provides  and Canadian community health survey data
  • using the inclusive definition of Francophones
  • Frequently asked questions about the
  • An amended provision of the FLSA (December 2021), provides for regulation-making authority, including for areas where there is a right to services in French to be  in the regulations rather than in a Schedule to the Act 
  
Building block #2: In-scope services (what is covered?)
        
Building block #3: Patient partnership and community engagement (how are patients engaged)
  
  • The Entités delivered a webinar on engaging and improving care for Francophone communities
  • The Patient and Public Engagement Collaborative has created a
   
Building block #4: Patient care and experience (how are patient experiences and outcomes measured and supported?)
  
  • The Entités collaborated to issue a
  • The Réseau du mieux-être Francophone du nord together with other Entités developed
  • Entité 3 developed  an active offer training for ,  staff highlighting the needs of Francophones in the Greater Toronto Area
  • Ontario Health offers a free online  learning program, featuring the history, demographics and characteristics of the Francophone population to providers in the West Region (with expected expansion to the rest of the province in 2022-2023)
  • The Réseau du mieux-être Francophone du nord created a
   
Building block #5: Digital health (how are data and digital solutions harnessed?)
  
  • Ontario Health (OTN) developed a series of virtual care placemats to support:
    • access to mental health and addictions services during the COVID-19 pandemic ( and )
    • local access to virtual emergency care ( and ) 
  • Ontario Health (OTN) health services directory searchable by language including for , , and a
  • Ministry of Health Digital Health Playbook ( and )
  
Building block #6: Leadership, accountability and governance (how are governance and delivery arrangements aligned, and how are providers engaged?)
  
  • , including a module on leadership (see webinar here)
  •  Entité 3 developed  an active offer training for ,  staff
    

Building block #7: Funding and incentive structure (how are financial arrangements aligned?)

        
Building block #8: Performance measurement, quality improvement, and continuous learning (how is rapid learning and improvement supported?)
  
  • The Entités developed a provincial guide on the  including sample questions
    





If you know of a resource that would be helpful to include on this page, please send it to rise@mcmaster.ca.