Safer Health Care for “Sicker” Canadians: International Comparisons of Health Care Quality and Safety

November 2009

The vast majority of Canadians who are already in poor health say the quality of the care they personally receive is good to excellent, but more than half feel that fundamental changes are needed to improve our health care system, according to a Canadian Health Care Matters bulletin released today by the Health Council of Canada.Safer Health Care for “Sicker” Canadians: International Comparisons of Health Care Quality and Safety, which draws on an analysis of the 2008 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Sicker Adults, also found, however, that Canadian patients who experienced safety problems gave significantly lower ratings to the quality of their care. The survey results suggest that fundamental changes to the health care system would need to include effective policies around patient safety and specific strategies to reduce errors, both in hospital and community care settings.

• Safer Health Care for “Sicker” Canadians: International Comparisons of Health Care Quality and Safety
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