Report No. 040-12

TO: Chair and Members of the Board of Health
FROM: Graham L. Pollett, MD, FRCPC, Medical Officer of Health
DATE: 2012 March 22

The Board of Health Self-Assessment Tool And Process – Proposed Revisions

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Board of Health endorse the revisions to the Board of Health Self-Assessment Process and the revised survey as outlined in Report No. 040-12 re The Board of Health Self-Assessment Tool and Process – Proposed Revisions.

Background

In November 2010, the Board of Health endorsed the recommendation of the Board Governance Working Group to annually review the effectiveness of the Board’s performance assessment process (Report No. 135-10). The current assessment tool is attached as Appendix A(PDF 46.8KB). Since then, the Board has assessed its performance three times: March, June and November of 2011, and signed an Accountability Agreement with the Ministry ofHealth and Long Term Care, which mandates Board compliance with the Ontario Public Health Organizational Standards. These standards address Board of Health self-evaluation (Standard 4.3): 

“The board of health shall have a self-evaluation process of its governance practices and outcomes that is implemented at least every other year and results in recommendations for improvements in board effectiveness and engagement. This may be supplemented by evaluation by key partners and/or stakeholders. The self-evaluation process shall include consideration of whether:

1.   Decision-making is based on access to appropriate information with sufficient time for deliberations;

2.   Compliance with all federal and provincial regulatory requirements is achieved;

3.   Any material notice of wrongdoing or irregularities is responded to in a timely manner;

4.   Reporting systems provide the board with information that is timely and complete;

5.   Members remain abreast of major developments in governance and public health best practices, including emerging practices among peers; and

6.  The board as a governing body is achieving its strategic outcomes.”

Proposed Revisions to the Self-Assessment Process

Compliance with Standard 4.3 requires two revisions to the current Board of Health performance assessment process. In addition, based upon the experience of the first year’s self-assessment, several revisions are suggested to improve the utility and effectiveness of the current process:

a)   Change the frequency of completion of the performance assessment questionnaire from 3 times to 2 times per year (rationale: required at least every two years by Organizational Standard 4.3 and responds to Board’s initial request to complete the self-assessment more frequently).

b)   Reduce the number of assessment questions while ensuring those remaining represent the six areas identified in the Organizational Standards (rationale: fewer questions focusing on key areas of interest will help to focus the responses and analysis; six areas required by Organizational Standard 4.3 will be included).

c)   Reduce the number of options on the agreement scale.  Rather than a seven point scale, it is suggested that a four point scale be used including: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree (rationale: this will make the scale easier to read and aid in interpretation).

d)   Maintain the raw survey data for a period of seven years as per the Health Unit’s records retention schedule, rather than deleting results after the summary report has been produced (rationale: this allows responses to be tracked over time).

e)   Include a record of Board member attendance in the summary report.

The new version of the survey containing the proposed changes is attached as Appendix B(PDF 74.4KB).

This report was prepared by Ms. Sarah Maaten, Epidemiologist, Environmental Health & Chronic Disease Prevention, and Mr. Ross Graham, Manager, Special Projects.

Graham L. Pollett, MD, FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health

This report addresses the Ontario Public Health Organizational Standards at the Middlesex-London Health Unit.