2026 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN NARRATIVE
Discover how North Peel FHT is enhancing patient care through its Quality Improvement Plan.
Every year, we get the opportunity to develop an improvement plan that continues our work of providing quality care to the patients of North Peel Family Health Team. This year, our plan focuses on what matters to you and your family. We are aiming to provide our patients with the right care at the right place and time.
OVERVIEW
​
North Peel Family Health Team (NPFHT) has provided integrated, comprehensive primary health care to approximately 10,000 rostered patients in Brampton since 2010. Over the past year, our inter-professional care team expanded and now includes six family physicians, three nurse practitioners, four registered nurses, two dietitians, four social workers, two kinesiologists, a psychiatrist, a pharmacist, and a chiropodist.
​
As recipients of the IPCT funding, we have made significant strides in helping residents of Brampton connect to a family physician, supporting provincial goals of connecting 2M people to a family doctor in Ontario. During the 2025/2026 year, we have successfully rostered over 2500 patients in the community and will continue our outreach and communication efforts in the coming year.
NPFHT truly believes team-based primary care is key to positively influencing both our patients and the broader healthcare system. Our programs and services extend beyond our rostered patients as we serve approximately 14,000 individuals including community clients that access the programs and services led by our allied
health professionals. These programs focus on chronic pain management, nutrition and health promotion, and fitness and
mobility.
Our Quality Improvement Plan for 2026/2027 aims to showcase the efforts taken within our organization to improve care across the four priorities outlined by Ontario Health including access and flow, equity, experience, and safety. The evaluation of these initiatives will allow us to assess important quality dimensions such as efficiency, timeliness, patient-centered care, equity, and safety.
​
NPFHT has continued to demonstrate our commitment to advancing comprehensive and accessible healthcare, effectively and efficiently by leveraging digital tools. We currently use a robust EMR system (Telus PS Suite) equipped with tools that support preventative care, seamless document sharing and record keeping of patient medical history, and risk management through alerts/notifications/flags. Moreover, this EMR supports quality
improvement and performance evaluation as it allows for easy data retrieval.
​
In addition to our EMR, our staff use a variety of digital tools. including Clinical Viewer, HRM, OLIS, OceanMD, and e-prescribing. This year, we plan expand our digital toolkit and onboard AI Scribe to more clinicians to help alleviate administrative burden for our providers and improve the quality of care during appointments. These tools provide opportunities to standardize, streamline, and optimize patient care as well as allow us to deliver that care in a
timely manner. For the upcoming fiscal year, our team is focused on thoroughly evaluating current and new digital tools to further reduce administrative burden, improve provider satisfaction, and patient care.
​
To support NPFHT's 2026/2027 QIP objectives, we hope to develop a Quality Improvement Team dedicated to track our progress closely, identify new QI strategies, and address challenges that arise. Moreover, incorporating patient feedback, provider insights, and input from the NPFHT Board will guide us in continually refining our approach and advancing our mission of providing comprehensive and accessible healthcare, effectively and efficiently.
ACCESS AND FLOW
​
NPFHT remains committed to improving the timeliness of care and ensuring that community members have access to primary care services. Over the past year, we have increased our efforts to roster more patients. This was made possible by deploying a variety of capacity building, outreach, and communication strategies including applying for IPCT funding, onboarding a new doctor, and leveraging digital tools. As a result of these efforts, we successfully met our patient enrolment target for the year, helping to expand access to primary care within our community.
In addition to increasing patient enrollment, we have worked to improve the ease and timeliness with which patients can book appointments. This past year, we prioritized expanding the use of our online appointment booking system through OceanMD. By supporting more clinicians in adopting this platform, the majority of our physicians and nurse practitioners now offer online booking options. This initiative allows patients to schedule appointments more conveniently and reduces administrative barriers associated with traditional phone-based booking. In the upcoming year we hope to continue marketing our online appointment booking platform to ensure we see an increase in appointments booked virtually.
​
To further improve access to care, we have also expanded the availability of after-hours and weekend services. This year, more physicians participated in after-hours coverage and weekend walkin hours compared to previous years. These expanded services help ensure that patients have greater access to timely care outside of regular clinic hours and support improved patient flow across the practice.
​​
EQUITY AND INDIGENOUS HEALTH​
​
NPFHT recognizes the diverse needs of the population we serve and remains committed to addressing health disparities through equitable access to care. We aim to ensure that our programs and services are responsive to the needs of our patients and the broader community.
Over the past year, we began collecting sociodemographic data for two providers’ patient panels in order to better understand the characteristics and needs of the populations we serve. This initial work allowed us to assess early insights and better appreciate the value of sociodemographic data in identifying potential disparities in access and outcomes. Building on these findings, we plan to expand sociodemographic data collection across additional providers to strengthen our understanding of patient needs and inform future quality improvement initiatives.
To further support equitable care, all staff and leadership successfully completed Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training this year. This training helped increase awareness of health inequities and provided staff with tools to better recognize and respond to the diverse experiences and needs of our patient population.
As part of our ongoing commitment to advancing equitable care, NPFHT will also participate in the Foundations of Healthcare Excellence learning series. Key learnings from this initiative will be shared during team huddles to support continuous learning and the integration of equity-informed practices across the organization.
PATIENT/CLIENT/RESIDENT EXPERIENCE​
​
NPFHT remains committed to continuously improving the experience of our patients and ensuring that services are responsive to their needs. Patient feedback plays a critical role in informing our quality improvement efforts. We regularly encourage patients to complete patient experience surveys to help us better understand their perspectives and identify opportunities to enhance our programs and services.
Over the past year, we have taken steps to improve response rates to these surveys. In addition to existing approaches—such as website promotion and post-appointment reminders from providers—we placed greater emphasis on actively distributing surveys through targeted email communications. This expanded outreach has helped increase patient awareness of the opportunity to provide feedback and supports more representative insights into patient experiences. In the upcoming year we hope to identify strategies that allow us to compare outcomes between both sites in order to ensure our strategies and efforts are targeted towards the right clinics.
We also undertook a comprehensive update of our website to improve accessibility and ensure patients and community members can more easily find information about our programs and services. As part of this redesign, we reviewed the types of resources available online and expanded our digital content to better support patient education and self-management. The updated website now includes a variety of self-learning resources, such as recorded program sessions, nutrition-focused recipes and educational videos, allowing patients and community members to access reliable health information outside of clinic visits. These enhancements help extend the reach of our programs while empowering patients with tools to support their ongoing health and well-being. In the upcoming year we hope to continue to analyze the data from our patient experience surveys to find more opportunities to improve our care.
PROVIDER EXPERIENCE​
​
Ensuring our providers and staff are well supported and satisfied is a top priority at NPFHT. Over the past year, we have introduced the Health and Wellness Workshops that allow staff to participate in activities that support mental health and wellbeing. These programs have been run periodically during the year and have been perceived positively by many and boosted morale in the office. In addition to this program, we have continued to increase camaraderie and satisfaction through other team building activities, recognizing staff efforts, and sharing positive feedback from patients during meetings.
​
In order to support our providers through stressors that come with travel, sickness, and extreme weather conditions, NPFHT offers a flexible work schedule and provides technology resources to be able to effectively care for their patients virtually. As patients have expressed a preference for virtual care as well, this model is providing satisfaction to both our patients and staff.
NPFHT is determined to help staff in their professional growth and conducts semi-annual performance reviews. These reviews ensure each staff member has an opportunity to share their goals with management who can support and connect them to resources, tools, and opportunities that align with their learning and growth objectives.
​
Many of the initiatives aimed at enhancing provider experience were inspired by the feedback we receive from the annual staff satisfaction survey. In the upcoming year, we hope to keep encouraging staff to share their ideas and thoughts and find new strategies to improve their experience at NPFHT.
SAFETY​
​
NPFHT has a variety of ongoing initiatives that ensure the environment is safe for both our staff and patients. All staff members are asked to undergo training upon hiring or take an annual refresher course to learn about workplace violence and harassment, hazardous materials, and occupational health and safety. Our offices also physically reflect NPFHT values and policies such as the zero-tolerance for violence policy by displaying no violence posters in our offices and on our website, reinforcing our commitment to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace.
​
We recognize that safety extends beyond the traditional view and includes prevention and minimizing risks. This past year, we have asked staff to complete mandatory training on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as well as 2SLGBTQI+ training to understand how we can proactively care for the needs of our patients who experience inequalities and have different lived experiences.
​
To minimize the risk of harm, management reviews all incidents and complaints promptly and takes the necessary actions to rectify issues. They also work with Health and Safety representatives to stay on top of new policies, and recommendations.
NPFHT also recognizes that while digital tools may enhance some aspects of patient safety, it also generates concerns regarding privacy and other cybersecurity issues. To ensure we are using technology responsibly, our clinic is equipped with firewall and antivirus protection and all staff receives training on the new risks that may arise with the adoption of new softwares and tools as well as strategies that are in place to minimize and mitigate the risks that exist.
PALLIATIVE CARE​
​
NPFHT does not have a formal palliative care program however, we continue to provide excellent care and support to our palliative patients and their caregivers or family during this critical time.
As a commitment to patient centred care, our physicians work with their patients to determine a treatment plan that supports their individual needs and preferences as much as possible. Additionally, our physicians continue to send referrals to our interprofessional care team when required ensuring our patients benefit from teambased care. Finally, when possible and necessary, our team conducts home visits to accommodate a patient's preference on the
setting of their care.
​
We understand the importance of being there for patients in their final stages of life, and we strive to deliver the highest level of care within the limitations of our resources.
POPULATION HEALTH MANAGEMENT​
​
NPFHT is committed to supporting the broader community, including individuals who may not be formally enrolled with the
clinic. Many of our programs are open to community members, including our dietetics, seniors, and chronic disease program, which continues to see participation from individuals across the community. Offering accessible programs helps ensure that more individuals can benefit from preventative care, health education, and wellness supports.
Our collaboration among Central West OHT partners also ensures we extend our reach to the broader community. Through communication strategies such as newsletters and postcards led by CWOHT, we are able to share resources between organizations allowing our patients to access services that may not be available within their own organization.
CONTACT INFORMATION/DESIGNATED LEAD​
​
Board Chair: Dr. H. Manning
Quality Committee Chair or delegate: Dr. S. Gopalapillai
Executive Director: Anne Marie Lang-Berkowitz
March 30, 2026