Patient Care Quality Office
Learn about the different options for sharing your feedback on the care that you or your loved ones have received.
Patient Care Quality Office
We’re committed to providing high-quality care in a respectful, caring and safe environment. Share your feedback (compliment or concern) on the care that you or your loved ones have received so we may resolve your concerns and improve patient services.
Giving feedback on your care experience
If you want to provide feedback about your care, you can talk to your:
Care provider or their manager: If you have questions or concerns about your care, please talk about it with the person who cared for you, or that person's manager, at the time and place they happen.
Patient Care Quality Office: If you feel uncomfortable talking to your care provider or their manager, or you’re unhappy with how your concerns were handled, you can talk to the Patient Care Quality Office. We’re here to help resolve care quality concerns. You can also share positive feedback about your care and the health-care system.
When you contact us, please provide the following information:
- Your name and/or the name of the person receiving care
- Your contact information
- A brief description of your compliment or concern
- The location where the care occurred
By Phone (toll-free): 1-877-442-2001
By Email:
By Mail: Patient Care Quality Office, 5th floor; 505 Doyle Ave; Kelowna, BC; V1Y OC5
By Fax: 250-870-4670
In Person: If you’d like to share your story in person, we can set up a safe in-person appointment in our downtown Kelowna office. Please call or email us to make arrangements before you visit.
Office hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. PST; Monday to Friday. Closed on weekends and statutory holidays.
At Interior Health, we want to provide you with a safe and a respectful environment when reviewing your care concerns. As we navigate through these challenging times, the Patient Care Quality Office will model values of integrity and compassion while working hard to find a resolution. We appreciate similar courteous and respectful behaviours in your interactions with our Patient Care Quality Office employees.
You may have a family member, friend, Elder or someone else you trust to bring forward a concern on your behalf. We’ll work with you and the person you have chosen to ensure we have the proper consent.
We understand that sometimes people aren’t comfortable bringing forward a concern, and we welcome anonymous feedback. Please note our ability to fully investigate the concern may be limited if we don’t know the identity of the person receiving care.
THE INTERIOR HEALTH AUTHORITY will use reasonable means to protect the security and confidentiality of information sent and received by email however, due to the risks as outlined below, cannot guarantee the security and confidentiality of email communications, and will not be liable for improper disclosure of confidential information that is not the direct result of intentional misconduct of the public body and/or the named health care provider. Clients must understand the risks associated with the use of email communications.
Risks associated to email include, but are not limited to:
- It is impossible to verify the identity of the sender and guarantee that only the intended recipient can read the email or text message.
- Emails can introduce viruses into a computer system, and potentially damage or disrupt your computer.
- Emails can be forwarded, intercepted, circulated, stored, misdirected and even changed without the knowledge or permission of the PCQO or you.
- Emails are permanent. Even after the deleting copies of the emails, back-up copies may exist on a computer, with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), on a server in another country, or elsewhere in cyberspace.
- Emails received or sent by IH may be subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) access requests and used as evidence in a court of law
Process after you contact Patient Care Quality Office
Sharing your concerns with us won’t have a negative impact on the care or services you receive.
We’ll work through your concerns respectfully, fairly, and in a timely manner. Our work will be guided by cultural safety (respectful engagement) and cultural humility (self-reflection). We’ll use your preferred name and pronouns when addressing you. We’ll protect your personal information in our secure database.
- We’ll ask if you self-identify as Aboriginal. This information will help us make sure our program is responsive to the preferences, needs and values of Aboriginal populations. Responding to this question is optional.
- Choosing to self-identify is voluntary. Should you choose not to answer, your concern or the care you receive will not be affected.
- Our goal is to acknowledge your compliment or concern within two business days.
- If you’re bringing forward a concern on behalf of a loved one, we’ll work with you to get the proper consent.
- If you’re sharing positive feedback, we’ll share it with others in our health-care system. They will love hearing about your positive experiences.
- If you’re sharing a concern, we’ll listen carefully to your experience. To complete an investigation into your concerns, we may need to look at your medical records and talk to the health care staff or physicians who provided your care. We’ll also look at our policies or guidelines.
- We’ll work with you to provide answers to your questions and address your concern. We may also discover areas where we can improve our services.
- We’ll provide you with a response to your concern. You can choose if you would like a response by telephone or in writing. We’ll also provide you with reasons for any decisions and actions that were taken, or any changes we’ll make to improve how we provide care. We try to provide a response to you within 40 business days and we’ll let you know if we think it may take longer.
- If you’re not happy with our response, we’ll give you information on where you can take your concern. This may include the Patient Care Quality Review Board, who will an provide independent assessment. They can review your complaint, our response, and recommend ways to improve the quality of care.
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