SCAN Health Organizes its First In-person Dialogue Forum in Edmonton, Alberta

This October, SCAN Health organized its first in-person Dialogue Forum to bring its Community of Practice members together to engage, collaborate and discuss supply chain resilience in Canadian health care systems. The Dialogue Forum provided a unique opportunity for the CoP members to engage in a robust multi-stakeholder collaborative environment where interdisciplinary researchers and cross-sectoral leaders convened to bring diverse knowledge domains to inform the strategy. Hosted by Alberta innovates, the in-person meeting profiled key features of Alberta’s successful pandemic response and the strategies used across Canada to mobilize supply chain teams, clinicians, and communities to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, a presentation was devised to prepare participants with a lens on equity, diversity, and inclusion so that strategies and processes are developed with a citizen-centred approach. Mobilizing knowledge and best practices through the Community of Practice will create the opportunity to co-design advanced supply chain models, practices and measurement tools and scale collaborative solutions across Canadian health systems to achieve safer care for all.

Key Objectives

• Engage Community of Practice partners in dialogue to examine the opportunities to advance key features of supply chain resilience in Canadian health systems

• Explore terms of reference and strategic plan to establish workgroups and confirm meeting schedule to advance dialogue towards drafting a workplan

• Examine principles of equity, diversity and inclusion relevant to health supply chain capacity to support equity across Canadian Health systems

Keynote: Key Features of Alberta’s Successful Pandemic Response
As health systems around the world struggled to source and provide their workforce with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) in spring 2020, one province was well prepared. Introduced by Francois Bouchard, the first keynote session was on the "Key Features of Alberta’s Successful Pandemic Response" with Jitendra Prasad. Prasad shared key insights by describing the sourcing, procurement, and stockpiling strategies, as well as the robust data and digital infrastructure, used by Alberta Health Services that enabled them to share PPE with other provinces.
COVID-19, Multi-Sectoral Collaboration, and the Health Supply Chain: A Pan-Canadian Panel
Moderated by Karen Sullivan, there were various valuable perspectives and implications presented on the COVID-19, Multi-Sectoral Collaboration, and the Health Supply Chain: Pan-Canadian Panel with Ron Johnson, Scott MacNair, Col. Natasha Singh and Angelique Berg. This pan-Canadian panel brought together supply chain experts from across Canada to explore the experiences and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and that now offer opportunities for strengthening supply chain resilience across Canada. The panel explored the relationship between the supply chain capacity of health systems and the supply chain capacity and reach of the private sector (e.g., pharmacy, manufacturing, distribution, and logistics) and the military. Panelists discussed the challenges and experiences of health supply teams across public, private, and military sectors. 

Achieving Equity in Canadian Healthcare: A Shared Vision Panel
The “Achieving Equity in Canadian Healthcare: A Shared Vision" panel with Judy B., Matthew Foss, and Aapooyaki Bonnie Healy presented a new perspective on the health supply chain. Moderated by Dr. Anne Snowdon, this panel has oriented the Community of Practice participants to principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion, with a special focus on health systems and the health supply chain.
The absence of supply in the health supply chain is not just a logistical concern but a moral one as well, bearing on such issues as distributive justice and health equity. As the COVID-19 pandemic made very clear, it is too late to wait until a crisis is unfolding to include citizens and the marginalized as active participants in our pandemic supply response. To ensure that its co-design strategies are equitable, the Community of Practice engaged with and received input from the communities it wishes to serve. To that end, the panel offered lessons and strategies in which Community of Practice partners can work to address these critical issues.

Breakout Session: Refine Workgroup Priorities and Report Back
The CoP is well-positioned to create the learning community through which partners were given the opportunity to co-design the solutions, models, and strategies necessary to advance supply chain resilience. Participants were instructed to breakout into their workgroups to discuss current challenges, identify priorities, and create an action plan for the next steps. After collaborative engagement and facilitation of each workgroup by their leaders, key priorities were identified and reported back to the community of practice with an opportunity for moderated discussion and questions, informed by the expertise, perspectives, and experiences of multiple, cross-sectoral stakeholders. 

SCAN Health is thrilled to bring its Community of Practice (CoP) members together to engage, collaborate and discuss supply chain resilience in Canadian health systems at Dialogue Forum II. Learn more about this event here.