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Catherine Grant is on the phone, pleading with me to have a look at the website for the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
She tells me there is some urgency to this. Hurry. I need to hurry.
?The survey ends Oct. 5,? she says.
?All right.?
?You need to have a look at it now.?
?All right.?
She goes on to say, one more time, how important it is that I have a look at the survey posted on the Champlain LHIN website, the one looking for public input into what sort of health care we want to have in Eastern Ontario.
After I do that, the retired elementary school teacher wants me to get back to her and answer one short question:
?Tell me if it seems as silly to you as it does to me.?
I promise, she makes me promise again, and then I goggle Champlain LIHN.
Now, before I tell you what I found there, here is some background. This is the second Integrated Health Service Plan (IHSP) survey undertaken by the Champlain LHIN, which was founded in 2006, along with the other 13 LHINs in the province.
LHINs were designed to increase efficiency and save valuable health-care dollars. This latest strategic plan will run until 2016.
Of course, an IHSP by an LHIN is not done ASAP. This is serious stuff and requires ?community engagement,? which is people saying what they think about something, although community engagement sounds more professional.
To engage the community the Champlain LHIN will be holding 29 public consultation meetings ? which are meetings with two unnecessary words ? and conducting an online survey.
The Champlain LHIN has an annual budget of $5.3 million, and this community engagement is part of the work it does.
The IHSP survey is therefore not a stand-alone budget item, and there is no way of knowing how much it costs.
So, here is a sampling of the survey questions being asked by the Champlain LHIN. (Each question is basically a statement, to which you are asked whether you agree, disagree, or find yourself somewhere in the middle.)
Statement number one ? ?The Champlain LHIN vision is (to have) healthy communities supported by a high-quality, sustainable health system.?
Tempted to disagree
I know, I know ? you?re tempted to disagree. They should have gone further. Where?s the part about peace in our time and you shouldn?t drown kittens?
For argument?s sake, let?s assume you agree. On to question number two, which is a bit more probing. Do you agree or disagree with this:
?The Champlain LHIN is proposing three broad goals for the next three years. With our health service providers and patient/public, we seek to:
? Improve the health of Champlain residents
? Improve their access to a high-performing health system, and
? Ensure people have a better experience with their care?
Ummm, this one is a bit tougher. Could be some sort of commie plot. I better check out the other questions before I answer.
Which I did, only to discover there are a dozen questions in the survey that are just like the first two ? self-evident, leading, misleading, vague, pointless, meaningless, laughable, self-aggrandizing ? have I mentioned pointless? ? yes, pointless, and all I wanted to do before I was done was scream ? BUY MORE BLEEPING MRI MACHINES!
But I was never asked that.
Chantale LeClerc, the CEO for the Champlain LHIN, defends the survey, saying it is a way of ?engaging with the community.? She also points out the survey lets people make comments.
?You are not limited to the questions,? says LeClerc. ?There is a place for you to make comments. We welcome comments.?
Thank heavens for this, because if you were restricted to just answering the questions you would be transformed into either the world?s greatest curmudgeon or the world?s most drunken Pollyanna.
In truth, most online surveys are rigged to produce the results the survey-taker wants. No one really wants answers, and no one really wants anything specific (like ?Do you want us to spend money on more MRIs??)
What the survey-taker wants is to be able to say they engaged the public, then draw their pay and go home.
Anyway, I had a phone call to make.
?So what did you think,? asked Grant.
?I thought it was ridiculous.?
?Me too! Can you imagine anyone disagreeing with any of those questions??
?I can?t.?
?Are you going to fill it out??
?Nah, I think I?ll just make a comment.?
Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/09/30/health-care-survey-questions-ridiculous
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