Province Launches Healthcare Improvement Challenge

Healthcare workers and those in jobs linked to healthcare in Nova Scotia could win a $1,000 cash prize for submitting their ideas for improving the system.

A new contest, the Healthcare Improvement Challenge, starts today, October 23, and runs to November 22. Eligible participants can submit one or more common sense ideas with a focus on improving healthcare in Nova Scotia.

“We have no shortage of talented people who work across the spectrum of healthcare in our province, providing care to Nova Scotians every day,” said Premier Tim Houston. “They live and breathe the system daily, and many of them have great ideas that can improve healthcare for patients and for their colleagues. We want to hear those solutions and put them into action.”

Ideas should be simple and easy to implement with little to no funding. Eligible submissions will be entered into a random draw for up to 50 prizes of $1,000.

From all the eligible submissions received, 20 ideas will be shortlisted by a review panel, and Nova Scotians can vote for their top 10. Those top 10 ideas will be considered priorities, and the government will work with health-system partners to implement them, where feasible.

More details about public voting will be announced after the best ideas are shortlisted.

Contest details and the submission form are available at: https://www.novascotia.ca/healthcare-challenge

Quotes:

“We need to be innovative in how we engage people who work in our healthcare system to come forward with ideas, suggestions and options about how we can make things better. This contest is a new approach to engage everyone who works in healthcare to bring forward ideas that could change how they work or how patient care is delivered.”

– Michelle Thompson, Minister of Health and Wellness

Quick Facts:

• no purchase is necessary to enter the contest; it is open to residents of Nova Scotia who are at least 18 years of age and actively working in healthcare in the province during the contest period
• the deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. on November 22
• there is a limit of one prize per person and the odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received
• to claim a prize, entrants must answer a skill-testing question and return a signed release form