By: Dylan DesRoche
For Metro Halifax Published on Wed Mar 16 2016
Following the death of Cody Glode, many Nova Scotians are expressing frustration with how long it takes to access mental health services in the province.
One expert in the field thinks he may have the answer.
“There’s a lot of people getting frustrated, and in some cases, ending their lives tragically because of it, which is why I think it’s time to fundamentally change the system,” said Todd Leader, former director of mental health and addictions with the South Shore Health Authority.
With some communities in Nova Scotia facing wait times as high as eight months, according to Leader, it’s time to try something else.
“The concept is simply to re-design the system so that it truly is client centred,” said Leader, who now lectures at Saint Mary’s University.
Leader worked with the old South Shore Health Authority for five years, where he led a full re-design of how services were offered to patients. This led to a significant decrease in wait times. He did this using new scheduling tools, efficiency, and putting the client first, even if it added more work for clinicians.
Using software, Leader and his team designed one calendar that was connected to every clinician’s schedule in the South Shore. This allowed them to give clients an appointment the first time they call.
“Every decision we made was made around the simple question if the client was your family member how would you want this system to work,” he said.
It wasn’t just about scheduling either; the team focused on efficiency, ensuring that if a client arrived on time, they got to see the clinician on time. Even if the clinician had to step out of a meeting or stop filling out paperwork said Leader, the client came first.
“Nothing is as important as seeing the client on time, the more we did that kind of thing and took that approach, the more we ended up freeing up time for more appointments,” he said.
Leader’s work dropped the waiting time for youths from an average of five months, to having an appointment booked for them the same day. He thinks the province could see the same success by taking a client first approach instead of the tradition administrative one.
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