Above: Members of the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) Community Advisory Committee (CAC). From left to right: Dorothy Pol, Michelle Palmer, Grace Parraga, Jonathan Batch, Bernadette deGonzague, Ericka Ayala Ronson. Not pictured: Jason Bates, Peter Bergmanis, Mariam Hamou, and Nathan Smith.
April 24, 2025
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and its Community Advisory Committee (CAC) are acting on feedback received from patients, the community, and LHSC team members about how to improve the hospital. On April 24, 2025, the CAC shared a report summarizing the results of recent community and staff surveys designed to capture perceptions on LHSC’s priorities and opportunities for improvement, as well as an action plan with a series of recommendations based on what they heard.
As part of LHSC’s work to strengthen its governance, finances, operations, and leadership, the two surveys were launched by the CAC in November 2024 – one to gather input from LHSC staff, physicians, volunteers, and patient partners, and another to engage patients, families, and the communities we serve. A total of 4,000 responses were received with responses analyzed to identify common themes and opportunities for improvement.
“The Community Advisory Committee is grateful to all the team members, patients, and community members who took time to share their honest feedback,” says Mariam Hamou, LHSC CAC member. “As representatives of the community, we know it is only with this input that LHSC can improve its operations to best serve its patients, community, staff members, and physicians.”
The CAC is a group of 10 community members dedicated to providing valuable input and guidance to LHSC’s leadership team. The CAC’s purpose is to ensure that LHSC’s actions align with the needs and priorities of the community it serves. One of the committee’s first priorities was collecting feedback from LHSC team members and the community to inform recommendations to LHSC’s leadership team.
The results of the surveys revealed a strong alignment between the perspectives of the community and those working within the hospital, underscoring shared priorities like addressing resourcing challenges and improving communication.
Informed by this feedback, the committee has worked with LHSC's leadership team to develop an action plan with recommendations to help guide the organization’s path forward. The recommendations include:
- Staffing and workload: Ensuring appropriate staffing numbers and improving team morale were common themes in the feedback. To address this, LHSC will align to best practices in staffing models, strengthen recognition programs, and introduce a refreshed wellness strategy.
- Patient volumes, access and wait times: Feedback also included the need to address patient volumes, wait times, and access to emergency services, surgery, and specialist care. In response, LHSC will advance capital redevelopment efforts to support a growing and aging population, advance strategies to ensure patients receive care in the most appropriate setting, and better support patients in navigating the health-care system.
- Enhance organizational communication and community engagement: Community members, staff and physicians want to see improved, clearer, and more consistent communication and engagement from LHSC. The hospital will continue holding regular staff and community forums to share organizational updates and answer questions. The hospital will also advance a comprehensive public engagement plan and welcome community applications to its new Board of Directors.
- Improved communication with patients and families: Feedback also highlighted the need for improved communication with patients and families about their care. LHSC will therefore improve how patients receive information, including a redesigned, digitized patient handbook and more consistent and accessible online resources.
- Training and development opportunities: LHSC team members expressed a desire for enhanced training and development. LHSC will offer training in working with Patient Partners, develop a comprehensive strategy to promote LHSC’s existing range of internal training opportunities, and offer an innovation day for staff to develop and pursue improvement ideas.
- Facilities, technology, equipment and resources: Feedback highlighted the need for improved facilities and up-to-date technology. The hospital is responding with new processes for updating equipment and infrastructure, improved wayfinding through new digital tools, and technologies that improve patients’ access to their own health records.
- Support vulnerable populations: As part of its commitment to serving all members of the community, the hospital is developing a renewed equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy and enhancing its support for vulnerable populations, including those experiencing mental health challenges and addictions. LHSC will also work towards adopting Joyce's Principle while continuing to advance Indigenous health equity and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action in Health.
- Partnership and collaboration: LHSC also heard about the importance of collaboration. As part of the action plan, it will therefore strengthen partnerships, including with St. Joseph’s Health Care London, to best support patients across our region and province.
The focus was on developing recommendations that are realistic and attainable in LHSC’s current financial situation. While these recommendations are tied directly to feedback received from the surveys, LHSC is also continuing its work to improve its governance, finances, operations, policies, and procedures through its detailed organizational review. A separate set of actions is expected to result from that work.
“I want to thank the Community Advisory Committee for ensuring LHSC’s actions align with the needs of our community and team members,” says David Musyj, Supervisor, LHSC. “Our leadership team is committed to this feedback and resulting action plan. Together, they paint a picture of an organization that is evolving – facing its challenges, while staying grounded in the values that matter most to its people and patients. Change takes time, but together we will build a stronger LHSC and a better future for our team and the communities we serve.”
LHSC’s Community Advisory Committee and leadership team have committed to providing regular updates on the progress of the action plan laid out in the report. The full summary of survey findings and detailed recommendations can be viewed on LHSC’s website.