Frequently Asked Questions

The Patient Voices Network is a mechanism to recruit, train and support patients in BC (and their families) to participate in primary healthcare changes on an individual, community and system level.

Primary healthcare refers to medical care a patient receives on first contact with the healthcare system, before being referred somewhere else.

Primary healthcare services include visits to family physicians, local health clinics, consultations with nurse practitioners, telephone calls to health information lines, advice received from pharmacists, etc.

We are all patients. Everyone accesses healthcare at some point in their lives. Many of us have also supported family members and friends in their journeys through the health system. Within the Network, “patient” refers to anyone in BC who wants to help make meaningful and positive changes in our primary healthcare system.

The Patient Voices Network Peer Coaching Program focuses on the individual level of change. Peer Coaches are trained to support and motivate participants to set and reach healthy living goals, such as to get more exercise, eat healthier / lose weight, reduce or stop smoking. The Peer Coaching Program is based on a self-management approach through a six session, peer-led, telephone-based coaching program.

The peer coaching program does not cover mental health issues (anxiety and depression), substance use (alcohol and drugs) or employment/career coaching.

The Patient Voices Network’s Shaping the System focuses on the system level of change. The program trains and supports patients to participate in making system changes that will improve primary healthcare in a meaningful and positive way.

The Patient Voices Network’s Community Activation focuses on the community level of change. The program trains and supports people to become active in their own communities by working in partnerships to improve primary healthcare at the local level.

“The Activated Network” refers to the Peer Coaching Program, Community Activation and Shaping the System. These are the 3 components of the Network that offer opportunities for patients to participate in system redesign at the individual, community and system level.

The Patient Voices Network provides accessible opportunities for patients to receive training and support to engage openly and honestly in system redesign. As experts in their own lives, patients and families need to be engaged in system decisions so that BC’s primary healthcare reflects the needs and priorities of the public.

The Patient Voices Network is a program of Impact BC, which is a not-for-profit and non-competitive NGO.

The Patient Voices Network is a mechanism to have your voice heard on a wide range of issues that will improve healthcare in BC. The Patient Voices Network is not an advocacy group for a particular cause.

Impact BC is a not-for-profit organization that works across BC's health system to support service improvement.

The Patient Voices Network is a program of Impact BC and is currently funded through the provincial government (Ministry of Health Services).

Although Impact BC programs (including the Patient Voices Network) are currently being funded by the government, Impact BC is an independent organization with non-governmental status that does not include government representatives in its decision-making.