Outgoing and Incoming MUHC Patients’ Committee of the Establishment

All healthcare establishments in Quebec must have an active patients’ committee. This committee has to be comprised of at least seven members who are either a patient, caregiver or legal representative of one or more patients of the institution they are serving. In the case of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), this means any of our hospitals, but not the Camille-Lefebvre long-term-care centre, which has its own Residents’ Committee. The MUHC Users’ (Patients’) Committee of the Establishment (MUHC-UCE) is the local committee recognized by the Act concerning the governance of the health and social services system (LGSSSS) to:

• Inform users of their rights, namely those entrenched in the LGSSSS;
• Defend the collective rights and interests of users or, upon request, the rights and interests of an individual user, before the institution or any competent authority;
• Accompany and assist users, upon request, in any actions they undertake, including referring users to an Ombudsman and or assisting with the filing of a complaint with the Ombudsman;
• Ensure that the Camille-Lefebvre Residents’ Committee functions properly and has the necessary resources to carry out its duties;
• Moderate, organize and promote events, activities or projects designed to inform, assist or support users and encourage quality and safety improvements in services and of residents’ living conditions;

In addition, the committee’s chair has a seat on the MUHC’s Board of Directors of the Establishment while a member designated by the committee also serves on the MUHC’s Vigilance and Quality Committee.

Outgoing Committee

On June 18, during its Annual General Meeting (AGM), the current MUHC-UCE will complete the mandate it began earnestly in 2022. I want to express sincere gratitude to the outgoing committee’s members who accepted to serve three years ago without the transition support of an outgoing committee. Not only did they land on their feet, they forged a collaborative path forward and contributed immensely to quality and safety at the MUHC in many areas and engaged the assistance of enthusiastic sub-committees to advance their projects.

I wish to recognize the leadership, experience and advocacy efforts of the current MUHC-UCE, namely Dr. Ingrid Kovitch (chair), Ms. Deborah Radcliffe-Branch (vice-chair) and Mr. Eligio (Joe) Ojeda (treasurer)—the executive —, as well as Ms. Shari Neudorf, Mr. Alex Galli, Ms. Amanda Bercovitch, Mr. Zhaoping Ju, and Ms. Danielle Carter. Thank you for your contributions and dedication.

Incoming Committee

I am also pleased to share today the good news that following a recent Call for Applications and vetting process by an independent election president, nine candidates were approved to stand for election to form the new MUHC-UCE. Given the quality of the applications, the current MUHC-UCE’s executive committee voted unanimously to elect all of the candidates by acclamation. The following members will be introduced formally at the AGM, begin their mandate and meet to choose their executive:

*Returning; **Member designated by Camille-Lefebvre Residents’ Committee

I encourage everyone to visit the MUHC-UCE Intranet page to learn about the committee and to attend the AGM on June 18. The agenda and ZOOM link may be found on the Web site here: https://muhc.ca/patients-committee

Lucie Opatrny, MD MSc MHCM FRCPC
President and Executive Director, MUHC