Strategic Plan 2024-2029
We Are Reimagining Care
Scarborough Health Network’s (SHN) Strategic Plan 2024-2029 builds upon the commitments, achievements, and progress we have made since our inception, and elevates our role in providing a more integrated healthcare system for Scarborough. This means going beyond our walls, adapting research and education efforts to the specific health conditions experienced among our community, and working with health system partners to provide seamless and coordinated care. For our patients and their families, this means quicker access to care, right here in Scarborough.
As the Network’s second largest funder (following government support), SHN Foundation is a key partner and enabler in executing our Strategic Plan 2024-2029. The Love, Scarborough fundraising campaign is helping us to Build It Forward through a multi-year redevelopment strategy that includes ambitious capital expansion and renewal projects. Together, we will ensure our hospitals services and facilities meet Scarborough’s evolving needs into the future, and deliver exceptional quality care for the 850,000 people we serve.
Mission, Vision, Values
Our Vision
Canada’s leading community teaching health network
Our vision is a bold statement that says who Scarborough Health Network will be—and a promise that we will continue to grow as a leader within our health system, and a trusted partner within our community.
Our Mission
Improving lives through exceptional care
We believe in providing exceptional care to help patients and families achieve their best quality of life.
Our Values
We build trust by living our values each day. Our people are:
We show empathy for our patients, families, and each other. We listen openly and speak respectfully.
We are inspired by our community’s diversity. We make everyone feel welcome, valued, and able to fully participate.
We demonstrate excellence by embracing new ways of thinking, acting, leading, and teaching.
We inspire each other to act boldly, to make a difference. We stand up for each other and the needs of our community, and work together to overcome challenges
Strategic Directions
People and Culture
Recruit, retain, and support our exceptional people and cultivate a culture of inclusion.
Our success comes from the contributions of our staff, physicians, researchers, and volunteers. We are committed to supporting them, empowering them, and helping them thrive in the workplace of the future.
We will equip our people with the skills and resources to excel in their work, reinforce a culture of safety, inclusion, and wellness across our teams; and use technology to better support our people in delivering the safest, highest quality care.
- Develop and implement our people strategy
- Build our culture and empower our people
- Optimize our workforce
In today’s healthcare environment, trained professionals are in high demand and short supply. Amanda, manager for Critical Care, knows first-hand how important it is to optimize staffing to provide safe and high-quality care.
SHN’s investment in best-in-class health human resources technology enables us to efficiently and effectively manage our people and optimize our human resources to better support our teams—and, by extension, our patients and their families.
New predictive analytics and artificial intelligence technology will help us forecast patient volumes and adjust staffing accordingly, as well as automate tasks such as documentation to reduce staff and physician burnout.
System Integration and Transformation
Work with partners to bring care closer to home with fewer handoffs.
Delivering patient-centric care means working with providers, Scarborough Ontario Health Team partners, and our communities to share expertise, information, and resources. We have the scale, digital capabilities, and network to play a leading role in this collaboration.
With our partners, we will improve patient access to healthcare and social services in the most appropriate setting, and enable care journeys with seamless, safe transitions by improving existing and developing new models of care.
- Improve access to primary health in Scarborough
- Redefine primary health care models
- Support care delivery partners through back-office and administrative services
- Expand home care partnerships and drive system-level home care coordination in Scarborough
- Assess home care vertical integration opportunities
- Expand long-term care partnerships and assess vertical integration opportunities
Dr. Mehta is SHN’s Corporate Chief of Family Medicine and the Medical Lead for the Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities, a Scarborough Ontario Health Team partner. Dr. Mehta’s vision for Scarborough is a healthier community with seamless and connected healthcare. In Scarborough, nearly 100,000 people are without access to a regular primary care provider, resulting in high numbers of emergency department visits for lower acuity conditions, and elderly patients presenting in declining health. Dr. Mehta is committed to implementing innovative models so that more patients have access to primary care, and expanding this access to residents outside hospital walls. Dr. Mehta and SHN are exploring new partnership models, creating on-site teams and clinics for primary health services, and building the education infrastructure with the University of Toronto Scarborough to train the next generation of diverse primary care doctors, right here in Scarborough.
Population Health and Equity
Champion improved health outcomes by matching our services to Scarborough communities’ needs.
Scarborough is defined by its diversity of cultures, social and economic contexts, and care needs. Delivering high-quality, safe care is founded in understanding our communities’ needs, and reflecting them in how we care for our population.
We will be a national leader in health equity research and education, applying population data and an evidence-based approach to address key healthcare challenges in Scarborough.
- Strengthen relationships and trust with Scarborough communities
- Advance health equity and improve health outcomes in Scarborough
- Develop and implement health equity data/analytics strategy
- Clinical services planning and Centres of Excellence
Meet SHN’s Indigenous Patient Navigator, Ellie Henry, a Registered Practical Nurse from Alderville First Nation Reserve. Ellie lived in Scarborough in her youth and returned to spearhead more inclusive healthcare and services to better meet the needs of Indigenous patients and their families. This includes weaving more traditional practices into their healthcare journey, building new care approaches, and growing connections between the hospital and community.
Ellie is one of many people at SHN who are dedicated to offering equitable and culturally sensitive healthcare to marginalized groups in Scarborough, and improving health outcomes through research, education, and an evidence-based approach.
Research and Education
Uncover and pursue innovative new ways to address Scarborough’s most critical health needs.
We are creating new research and academic spaces in the heart of Scarborough to attract and train the best and brightest healthcare professionals, to deliver on the needs of our communities and support our Population Health and Equity objectives.
We will expand our academic network of researchers and partners, focus our research and education efforts on patient and community needs, and evolve our organization to reflect the level of impact we want to achieve.
- Grow research and education infrastructure and capabilities
- Strengthen and scale Research and Education profile
Dr. Grover leads SHN’s education and research portfolio, as well as our partnership with the University of Toronto in the development of the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health. He is also the inaugural Research Chair in Education at SHN Research Institute, focused on providing better healthcare through research that matters to Scarborough. With Scarborough’s incredible diversity—made up of 60% new Canadians and 75% visible minorities—our patient population often presents with more culturally prevalent conditions. This offers unique opportunities to better learn and understand a wide range of illnesses, treatments, and supports.
Dr. Grover will advance our education and research footprint, all with an eye toward improving patient outcomes in Scarborough. SHN is in a position like no other, to train the next generation of health professionals and impact healthcare services and outcomes through research and education.
Quality and Patient Safety
Keep quality care and patient safety at the core of everything we do.
We owe it to everyone to provide high quality care in culturally, physically, and mentally safe spaces. System integration will unlock new opportunities to elevate standards across the care continuum and meet the needs of our community.
SHN will reinforce clinical expertise through Centres of Excellence, apply innovative technologies to help our people and partners deliver quality care, and empower patients to play an active role in their health journey.
- Journey to Zero Harm
- Foster safety and quality by optimizing technology and data
- Whole system quality management
- Empower and engage our patients
- Capital planning and redevelopment
SHN is where the newest technology meets the highest patient safety standards. Robotic-assisted knee replacement surgery at our Orthopaedics Centre of Excellence enables our surgical team to perform surgery with greater precision, resulting in less trauma to the knee, a lower chance of infection, and a faster recovery time.
We are enhancing our Epic clinical information system to provide secure access to partner healthcare organizations for more integrated care; empower patients to access their records and self-schedule appointments using MyChart; implement disease-specific care pathways using the latest best practice evidence; and use artificial intelligence to predict and prevent adverse events like infections.
Optimizing technology and investing in our best-in-class hospital information system will take exceptional quality and patient safety to the next level.
Having clearly defined our strategic directions and five-year commitments, we will work towards measurable goals and key performance indicators for our programs, services, and partnerships, with input from our patients, families, and collaborators. Our Board of Directors will regularly review metrics and outcomes to ensure accountability, and we will keep stakeholders informed about our progress.
Love, Scarborough
Ontario hospitals are responsible for raising 100% of equipment and 10% of infrastructure costs, making the Love, Scarborough fundraising campaign essential to how our health network and community will advance into the future. The campaign will enable growth and innovation, and the delivery of exceptional quality care. Working together with SHN Foundation, we are investing in new buildings, facilities, technology, and state-of-the-art equipment, and forging transformative relationships with partners and donors.
Beyond fundraising, Love, Scarborough reflects our pride in who we are, how we got here, and where we are going. It is a rallying cry that brings together SHN, our community, and everyone who believes in the extraordinary potential of the people who live and work in Scarborough.
Help us Build It Forward by joining the Love, Scarborough fundraising campaign and donating today.
Check out SHN Foundation’s new Strategic Plan 2024-2029
A thoughtfully designed roadmap that aligns with the hospital’s priorities, and considers the changing healthcare landscape and the evolving needs of our community.
Who We Engaged
Your Voice Matters
Scarborough Health Network (SHN) is rooted in community. With the ever-changing healthcare landscape, including the evolving needs of our community and health system partners, it was vital for us to assess, identify and prioritize what is most important for delivering exceptional quality healthcare for Scarborough.
Through our robust “Reimagining Care: Strategic Planning Process” in 2023, we engaged and collaborated with the very people who will be accessing, delivering, or partnering with our services in some way, over the coming years. This includes Scarborough residents, health system partners and providers, as well as our staff, medical staff, learners, and volunteers.
Our engagement sessions included:
- Community Forums
- Input from the Community Advisory Council
- Interviews with system leaders, like Ontario Health, Ministry of Health and Ontario Health Teams
- Interviews with Home and Community Care Partners
- Interviews with peer and partner hospitals
- Discussions with members of the academic community
- Internal engagements, including staff surveys, Leadership, Directors and Operations Forums, and Staff Town Halls
Thank you to everyone who engaged in our strategic planning process in 2023. For questions or feedback about SHN’s Strategic Plan 2024-2029, please email communications@shn.ca.