Legal

Service of a Statement of Claim Reference for Staff

What is a Statement of Claim (“Claim”)? It is a document prepared by the party initiating a lawsuit.

How claims work:

• A claim can be filed against Southern Health-Santé Sud (SH-SS) as a region and also against sites and staff members. Anyone listed on the claim will be called a Defendant.
• All named Defendants on the claim must be served.
• It can take up to 6 months to be served after claim is filed.
• Staff should not accept service of a claim on behalf of SH-SS or sites.
• Our lawyer for service will be accepting service of claims.
• If SH-SS does not respond in 20 days we are noted in default.
• Our lawyer will defend staff named in a claim.
• Staff who have retired and/or moved to another job are covered if they were employees at the time of the event; and so long as they assist with investigation and defence.
• All employees are insured through HIROC. The only way a staff member wouldn’t receive coverage under the HIROC policy is if they wouldn’t provide information for defence purposes or provide a signed statement.
• Any doctors listed on a Statement of Claim are not employees so not represented by our insurance and/or legal counsel.
• There is no coverage for staff involved in criminal or intentional acts eg. snooping or sexual assault.
• Staff can contact with our insurance adjuster directly to discuss the process after service of the Claim who will calm staff and ease their worries. Request contact information for the insurance adjuster from Quality, Planning & Performance Administrative Assistant.

NEW PROCESS:

If a process server attends regional sites and/or sites to serve a claim on behalf of SH-SS or a named site, staff are to say:

“I do not have the authority to accept service here.”

If a process server attends a site to serve a claim personally on a staff member then the staff member named in the claim must accept service of that claim.

Research

Staff and physicians can refer researchers to our public website for information and to obtain an application. Research applications submitted to: .

Should you have any questions, contact the Decision Support Analyst.

Research Application and Approval Process

Also see Quality, Planning & Performance policies & forms

Risk Management

Risk management in Southern Health-Santé Sud (SH-SS) is a multi-faceted approach to proactively identify risks and establish measures to prevent the risk before it happens or mitigate the likelihood and impact. There are multiple pieces to the puzzle.

Regional Corporate Risk

In compliance with the Provincial Risk Management Policy (HCS.200.4 – revised and approved in 2022), Southern Health-Santé Sud compiles a regional risk report annually based on the Provincial Risk Management Framework. The annual risk report is approved by the Board of Directors, submitted to Shared Health and Manitoba Health.

HIROC Risk Assessment Checklist

The aim of the HIROC Risk Assessment Checklist Program is to improve patient safety by assisting our organization in identifying and prioritizing areas of improvement. It is a self-assessment tool for compliance with a number of actionable evidence-based mitigation strategies to effectively address top risks leading to medical malpractice claims. Each year, our Senior Leadership Team chooses regional programs to participate in the Risk Assessment Checklist following a three-year cycle. Each year the programs complete or updates a set of risk modules, which are then submitted to HIROC for review and feedback. In the current cycle (2022-2025) the region chose two programs: Acute Care and Long Term Care modules.

Quality Improvement Plans

Quality improvement plans are a formal set of goals and actions that teams make to improve specific outcomes, practices, processes, and/or quality issues. It is not an all-encompassing list of everything teams are working on towards priorities. They align with the strategic priorities of our 2023-2028 Strategic Plan.

Quality Improvement Plan Template
Quality Improvement Plan Guide
Quality Improvement Plan Education

Team Plans

If you are unable to access the Teams Plans, please contact

LEAN

For more info. contact

Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that can be used to improve processes and quality across the spectrum of services we provide to deliver health care. Lean Six Sigma training is available on an annual basis to staff who are interested in learning introductory tools and concepts to entry level facilitation skills.

Belt Projects —

Ethics

Quality, Planning & Performance

Ethical Decision Making policy

Ethical Decision Making Framework Form

(Note: for accessible format, contact )

If you would like further support for ethics consultations, please reach out to the Ethics Committee

To provide valuable feedback and for tracking purposes, please complete the survey related to your completed ethical dilemma.

Learning Opportunities

Ethics Education (Self-learning)