Personalized and precise treatments

At the final team meeting for this strategic direction, the group reflected on the strategic planning process to-date and reviewed the goals and objectives developed across all four strategic directions.

There was a discussion about how the work of this direction aligns with Sunnybrook’s academic health sciences centre mandate, how it will change how and who we education, and how this direction can collaborate with the other three to achieve its goals.

Finally, the group reflected on the strategic planning process. Members expressed general satisfaction with the process. They felt future planning could benefit from enhanced integration of the strategic direction planning teams. They stressed the importance of continued and broadened engagement with key partners as implementation planning progresses.

At the fourth meeting of this strategic direction team, the Chairs presented key takeaways from the strategic planning summit world café held on Monday, January 15. It was reported that there was wide support for the draft goals and objectives. Stakeholders at the summit commented that the opportunities to contribute were not aligned to specific program areas. There was an acknowledgement of the significant investments required to move this direction forward and conversation focused on the need to consider the role of commercialization.

The goals and objectives were updated based on feedback from the summit. The team discussed the updated language and reflected on actions to consider in implementation planning.

At this third meeting of this strategic direction team, the group reviewed a working definition of the concepts behind this strategy. They considered whether the preliminary goals and objectives reflected the key themes discussed at the table and those that emerged through stakeholder consultation.

The team considered opportunities for cross-organizational contribution and accountability towards achieving the goals, and whether they are sufficiently stretched to reflect the potential impact that Sunnybrook can and should have over the 2018-2021 planning horizon?


There was a preliminary discussion on actions and implementation planning.

A plan for program, department and divisional engagement was presented.

At the second team meeting for this strategic direction, there was a high-level review of survey results from 26 respondents to this webpage’s interactive questions posted after the first meeting’s overview was provided.

With regards to what is the most important factor when making choices about one’s treatment plan, the top two ranked responses were opposing views, suggesting that each individual has different priorities when it comes to their treatment options, and therefore it is a very personal choice.

Once questions are further refined through this strategic planning process, it will provide a better understanding of our stakeholders’ views.

In reviewing the summary from the first meeting and the updated definition of this strategic direction, the Chair of this team stressed the importance of not only looking at what Sunnybrook is excellent at today, but also to plan for what we need to invest in today for the future.

Sunnybrook’s existing Strategic Priorities will act as platforms for our future Strategic Directions.

It is important that leadership communicates to their respective programs; every program needs to see themselves in this planning.

Feedback was provided to the draft goals and objectives, including:

• The need to add a system approach to the goals & objectives, as this team/Sunnybrook shouldn’t attempt to incorporate/do everything. There is a need to build a healthcare system.
• Is this strategic direction only about technology and processes; should we narrow to a technology group? Response was technology is more of the enabler. We may not always need new technology but rather are we using existing technology yet or in a different way?
• Current goals and objectives are about diagnostics; intervention is also needed
• Physiology/physiological assessment needs to be incorporated
• Systemic therapy: knowing which therapies to use, knowing which weaknesses we need to improve on/invest in.

Next Steps:
Upon further consultation with those who provided feedback at the meeting, there will be resulting updates made to the current draft of goals and objectives. There will be a highly-focused action plan column added next to the goals & objectives columns.

At the first team meeting for this strategic direction, the group identified two components for discussion. The first is focused on finding new and better ways to manage a patient's journey through their care and the health system - creating a personalized care plan that is appropriately aligned with their unique needs. Members identified the need to understand what seamless care feels like from the patient perspective and from staff and partners how we can improve the coordination of care within the hospital and with our partners in other care facilities.

The second focus of discussion was on leading edge precision treatments (such as radionics – the use of Imaging in the understanding and treatment of disease and outcomes). Team members identified a need to identify the most appropriate place to direct future attention and resources.