Monday, January 31, 2005

Developing evaluation capacity in community mental health programs (Canada) Item in CMHA/Ontario's Mental Health Notes - "According to an article published in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal that describes the results of as Ontario initiative to help community mental health agencies conduct program evaluation, the field is interested in evaluation but faces the challenge of limited resources and a limited infrastructure. ... Many programs said that the greatest challenges to evaluating their services was a lack of infrastructure such as human resources, time, computer hardware and software and funding specifically for evaluation. "  
  

Review Of The Social Work & Social Service Work Act, 1998 (Canada) Page at the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services that provides links to a discussion paper in MS Word and Adobe Acrobat formats - "The Ministry of Community and Social Services is conducting a five-year review of the Social Work and Social Service Work Act, 1998 to identify and address implementation problems, if any, resulting from the provisions of the Act since the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW) was first established in 1999. The review is not an evaluation of the College's performance, but whether there are legislative barriers to effective implementation of the College's responsibilities in support of the primary duty to serve and protect the public interest. This discussion paper provides background on why the legislation was introduced; an overview of the legislation; sets out review questions that will assist stakeholders in identifying any implementation issues; and identifies the process for how stakeholders can contribute to the review."  
  

Makeover due for Ontario health-care system (Canada) Toronto Star story - "Ontario's health-care landscape is about to get a radical redesign. On April 1, the health ministry is set to introduce new power-brokers into the province's health system — local health integration networks (LHINs). Touted as an integral part of the McGuinty government's plan to transform the provincial health-care system, the 14 regional health networks are to decide what local health care needs are, plan for those needs and, eventually, fund them."