Ontario’s health care system can feel like a maze. In response, some hospitals have introduced patient navigators, who act as guides through the labyrinth of health care services. They help connect patients with the right doctors, resources and therapies, and get answers to patients’ questions. In 2012, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Healthy Debate launched the Personal Health Navigator blog. Over the past few years, we've answered nearly 100 patient questions. In collaboration with our Citizens’ Advisory Council, we have selected 33 of the best articles for this free e-book. They span a variety of topics, from family doctors to cancer and surgery.

This book provides insight into how the Canadian health care system is financed and organized, how it has evolved over time, and how well it performs relative to peer countries.

In shaping the future of Ontario's healthcare system, we must consider the changes required to achieve high-performance, engage staff across the system, and integrate the vision of patients, families and caregivers in developing plans to improve patient experiences and outcomes. [...] In general, citizens in Canada are attached to and proud of their health care system, support the principles of the Canada Health Act, and are concerned about the future and sustainability of Canada's healthcare system (Mendelsohn, 2002). [...] The evidence on developing and sustaining high-performance and optimizing patients' experiences in the healthcare system provides the means to meet the goals and needs of patients. [...] One example of the role of learning and developing capacity through relationships with external organizations comes from the case of the Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust (BEN PCT) and Heart of England Foundation Trust (HEFT) in the U. K. The Birmingham trusts linked with a number of "mentor" organizations, including Kaiser Permanente in the U. S. to learn from their improvement practic [...] Patient and caregiver panelists also spoke to the value of information infrastructures and electronic health records in improving communication and tracking patients through the healthcare system in a way that is accessible to patients.

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in late 2002 and 2003 challenged the global public health community to confront a novel epidemic that spread rapidly from its origins in southern China until it had reached more than 25 other countries within a matter of months. In addition to the number of patients infected with the SARS virus, the disease had profound economic and political repercussions in many of the affected regions. Recent reports of isolated new SARS cases and a fear that the disease could reemerge and spread have put public health officials on high alert for any indications of possible new outbreaks. This report examines the response to SARS by public health systems in individual countries, the biology of the SARS coronavirus and related coronaviruses in animals, the economic and political fallout of the SARS epidemic, quarantine law and other public health measures that apply to combating infectious diseases, and the role of international organizations and scientific cooperation in halting the spread of SARS. The report provides an illuminating survey of findings from the epidemic, along with an assessment of what might be needed in order to contain any future outbreaks of SARS or other emerging infections.

The report reviews a range of policies that countries have used to tackle waiting times for different services, including elective surgery and primary care consultations, but also cancer care and mental health services, with a focus on identifying the most successful ones.