Last fall, hospitals throughout Quebec held elections and designations for their new boards of directors. At the Douglas, 12 new members joined 11 experienced members.

Here’s a summary of their crucial role.

Much More than Meetings

Douglas board members do much more than attend monthly meetings from September to June. By accepting a board position, they agree to take on time-consuming, complex, and weighty responsibilities. Their decisions profoundly affect Douglas patients, jobs, and work environment. Once their decisions are made, it’s up to administration to put them into action.

Steering the Ship

Although board members depend heavily upon input from administration, committees, and other sources, they steer the ship when it comes to deciding Douglas priorities and directions. From a strategic standpoint, their responsibilities include:

• setting Douglas priorities and objectives, and ensuring they are followed;
• appointing Douglas director general, senior managers, the ombudsman, physicians and pharmacists;
• ensuring Douglas offers pertinent, quality, safe, and effective services;
• ensuring patient rights are respected and patient complaints are promptly processed;
• ensuring Douglas makes economical and efficient use of human, material, and financial resources.

As you can imagine, making decisions on such a wide range of areas calls for lengthy background preparation, a huge commitment in time and energy, and a single-minded dedication to improve mental health services.