Patients and their families have unique insights about themselves and what matters when they are receiving health care services. Through their lived experience, patients bring valuable perspectives to research into new and better ways of delivering care that will improve the health of all people in Canada.
Today, Adam van Koeverden, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and the Minister of Sport, announced, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, a combined investment of more than $32 million over five years from the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia to support the second phase of the BC SUPPORT Unit.
The past few years have been both busy and significant for the BC SUPPORT Unit. It became part of Michael Smith Health Research BC, an organization dedicated to the growth and evolution of BC's health research system and life sciences sector. The Unit made a major investment in methods development with the funding of 42 projects that explored the use of data science, health informatics, and other methodologies to address patient priorities. In partnership with the Emergency Medicine Network, the Unit also evaluated changes to virtual care provided through HealthLink BC during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project leveraged the Provincial Health Data Platform, one of the Unit's key data initiatives.
This new investment will help the BC SPOR SUPPORT Unit continue its important work in supporting the development of high-quality research, informed by patients, clinicians, and others to generate evidence that addresses issues of concern in the health care system.
The federal funding is provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) as part of the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR), a pan-Canadian initiative dedicated to integrating the voices of patients in research and health care.
