As a provincial Crown corporation that receives its primary funding from the Department of Health, the Chair and CEO of the NBHC also report to the Minister of Health.
In its legislation, the NBHC was given a dual mandate
- report publicly on the performance of the provincial health system, and
- engage citizens in the improvement of health services quality.
The NBHC will foster transparency, engagement, and accountability by:
- Engaging citizens in a meaningful dialogue for the purpose of improving health service quality
- Measuring, monitoring, and evaluating population health and health service quality
- Informing citizens on our health system’s performance
- Recommending improvements to the Minister of Health
The order of these four activities can vary. In the case of a care experience survey, the Council may start by engaging citizens to collect their experiences through the survey. The survey responses are then measured, monitored and evaluated through quality control and analysis work to develop results. The Council then informs the public and health system stakeholders of the results, and later uses these results when developing recommendations for the Minister of Health.
Other situations may have the Council sharing existing results to inform on a specific topic, or to re-evaluate survey responses at a deeper level to answer questions generated by the initial informing of stakeholders. The NBHC may also take its results and information products to use as part of a formal public engagement process throughout the province. The Minister of Health may also request the NBHC conduct such an engagement activity to gather information on behalf of the Minister.
