Patient & Family Engagement

Partnering with Patients and Families

One of the best ways to improve the patient experience and healthcare services is by working closely with the people who use them — patients and their families. When patients and families help make decisions about the health care system, from what happens at the bedside to how clinical programs are run, healthcare becomes safer, more respectful, more accessible and more effective.

This is called patient and family engagement. It means patients and families aren’t just receiving care—they are active partners in shaping it. By sharing their ideas, experiences, and feedback, they help staff make more patient-centered, sustainable decisions. When patients and families are involved in planning and decision-making, the healthcare system focuses more on what really matters to the people it serves.

PHSA gathered feedback from patients, families, staff, and physicians across British Columbia on their experiences and ideas for partnering in care. We listened, learned, and created a public report summarizing the key themes from these engagement sessions.

In spring 2025, PHSA introduced the PHSA Patient and Family Engagement Framework. This framework guides our staff in planning and leading meaningful engagement activities. It provides clear steps and tools to involve patients and families in decisions about programs, projects, and major system changes—ultimately making healthcare better for everyone.

Want to Get Involved?

If you’re interested in sharing your voice and helping improve healthcare in BC, here are a few ways to get involved:

PHSA programs and services: Get directly involved with specific PHSA programs. Scroll down to explore available opportunities.
Patient Voices Network: Become a patient and family partner with healthcare organizations across BC. Learn more and find opportunities through the Patient Voices Network, administered by Health Quality BC.

Patient and Family Engagement contacts and resources across PHSA:

Content

PHSA Corporate

Contact: Kathryn Proudfoot, senior director, Patient & Family Partnerships and Experience, PHSA

Email: pfp@phsa.ca ‎

BC Cancer

Contact: Tammy Hoefer, director, Patient & Family Partnerships and Experience, BC Cancer

Email: patientexp@bccancer.bc.ca

Web: BC Cancer Patient & Family Partnerships and Experience

BC Centre for Disease Control

Contact: Tiffany Barker, director, Quality, Safety & Accreditation, BCCDC

Email: qualitysafety@bccdc.ca

BC Children's Hospital, and BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre

Contact: Mary MacKillop, director, Patient Experience, C&W

Email: patientexperience@cw.bc.ca

Phone: Patient Experience Office. Toll Free: 1-844-874-3267

Web: Patient Experience | BC Children's Hospital

Web: Patient Experience | BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre

BC Emergency Health Services

Contact: Alina Rakhmanova, manager, Quality Safety & Accreditation, BCEHS

Email: qualityleaders@bcehs.ca

Web: Patient Experience BCEHS

BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services

Contact: Katie Mai, director, Patient Experience and Community Engagement

Email: engage_bcmhsus@phsa.ca

Web: BCMHSUS Patient & Family Engagement

BC Renal

Contact: Helen Chiu, quality lead, Patient-Centred Performance Improvement

Email: patientengagement@bcrenal.ca

Web: BC Renal Patient & Family Engagement

Office of Virtual Health

How do patients feel about having virtual appointments?

A recent survey shows patients who use Zoom to connect with their health care providers give it high praise.

Why survey patients?

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced health systems globally to re-evaluate how care is delivered. Virtual health went from being optional to becoming an essential mechanism for safely delivering health care to B.C. citizens.

Virtual health solutions have enabled clinicians to continue to provide high-quality care by having video calls or telephone calls, using clinical digital messaging, or remote patient monitoring.

To find out how clinicians and patients felt about using Zoom for Healthcare for their virtual health visits, the Office of Virtual Health at PHSA, along with regional health authorities and health organizations, released a survey in November 2020.

Read the highlights of the survey responses in this article.

‎Feedback

We welcome your feedback about our services. If you have a compliment or complaint, please contact our Patient Care Quality Office (PCQO).