A message from 2022 public members of CPSA Council

The physician-patient relationship is at the heart of heath care. It requires not only knowledgeable and compassionate providers, but also honest and engaged patients, both continuously advocating for quality care.

Medicine has the privilege of profession-led regulation under the Health Professions Act (HPA) and we, as public members of Council, are grateful for the opportunity to help inform the important decisions made around the Council table.

The public members of CPSA Council are unique in that we all come with vastly different backgrounds and areas of expertise: we have engineers, teachers and community leaders among us, and we believe these diverse experiences, along with those of our physician members, ultimately lead to our success as a group. Each Councillor approaches discussions with a slightly different lens, allowing us to consider the many perspectives and scenarios in which Albertans might interact with the healthcare system. By bringing forward a variety of ideas, our decisions are more likely to support those we’re tasked to serve and protect.

Undoubtedly, the biggest project for CPSA Council in 2022 was reimagining CPSA’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. Planning, developing and implementing this plan involved a significant amount of work from everyone on Council, but we’d like to specifically highlight the contributions of the Strategic Planning Working Group. Consulting with CPSA team members and partners, this working group spearheaded the creation of CPSA’s new strategic plan, which is skillfully aligned with the work we’re already doing and the work we envision moving forward. Each element of the plan ties back to CPSA’s vision, mission and values, therefore ensuring we continue to meet our mandate of protecting Albertans and guiding the medical profession.

Other main priorities for CPSA Council in 2022 included our continued commitment to anti-racism and anti-discrimination, as well as ongoing education. CPSA’s Anti-Racism Anti-Discrimination Action Advisory Committee and Indigenous Advisory Circle ultimately support both of these priorities, and we look forward to seeing how this education and awareness will continue to guide our work in 2023.

We’d like to close by thanking all Albertans—healthcare providers and patients alike—for their continued resilience in the face of some truly difficult times. By continuing to listen to, learn from and collaborate with each other in a respectful way, we can help create a system where all patients receive the care they deserve.

Sincerely,

The 2022 public members of CPSA Council.