The project to create a SPOR support unit in Quebec emerged through an initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). SPOR (Strategy for Patient-oriented Research) stems from a priority introduced in the CIHR’s IPPH 2009–2014 Strategic Plan. This strategy was the result of a broad consultation conducted with governments, patients, individuals and organizations working in research and health and social services, including decision-makers, academic institutions, charities and the private sector.
Recognition, Promotion and Development
Our mandate has driven a number of developments and choices:
- Recognition of the experiential knowledge of patients, the public and all other stakeholders;
- The use of research in a real context;
- The development of implantation science;
- Adherence to the learning health system (LHS) concept.
Fulfilling Our Ambitions
POR gives us the means to achieve our ambitions by making it possible to establish a LHS.
This vision pushes us to embrace the quintuple aim and mobilize researchers and health and social services, with and for the benefit of the public, in an effort to improve:
- Patient experience and outcomes
- The health of the population
- The efficiency of the system
- The well-being of health and social services workers
- Health and social services equity
In 2024, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) launched a project to update Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) program and its governance structure. Provincial units such as ours and other members of the PARS community were invited to comment on seven major themes.
The report “Pathways to Impact: Refreshing Canada’s Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR)” was published in March 2025. It outlines the strategic objectives identified to accelerate the impact of the SPOR, as well as recommendations to guide it’s evolution.
Our goal is to break down silos and position research not as a standalone effort, but as an integral part of the larger ecosystem dedicated to improving health and healthcare for all.
Pathways to Impact: Refreshing Canada’s Strategy for PatientOriented Research (SPOR), p.34
Santé Québec Transition Committee
Taking office in January 2024, the Transition Committee had one year to support the future management of Santé Québec in its deployment. It was also tasked with drawing up a transition plan to be implemented over the next few years. Catherine Wilhelmy, patient-partner co-director of the Unité de soutien SSA Québec’s Scientific Management and co-leader of the Expériences community, which brings together over a hundred Quebec patient-partners, is one of the members of the Transition Committee, which has the important mandate of “Preparing for the merger” at Santé Québec.
Act respecting health services and social services
In 2023, Bill 15 was tabled by Minister Christian Dubé. Its aim was to make the health and social services system more efficient. The Unité de soutien SSA Québec submitted a memoir to the Commission de la santé et des services sociaux to contribute to this collective reflection, which was crucial to the Quebec healthcare system. Vincent Dumez and Antoine Groulx, respectively patient co-director of the Partnership Axis and scientific co-director of the Unit, were also present at the Commission’s April 20 meeting.
Position Statement on Continuous Quality Improvement
The publication of the Position Statement on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is part of a series of efforts by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) to structure and deploy CQI. The Unit plays an active and essential role in this process.
The aim of the Statement is to contribute to the development of a common understanding of CQI, and to provide concrete support for improving practices in the Quebec health and social services network. In this publication, we argue that CQI is a concrete way of connecting science to practice. As such, it presents the current state of knowledge in CQI, recommendations based on best practices, and feedback tools to support the implementation of CQI approaches.
We enthusiastically welcome the response from the MSSS, which has indicated its intention to implement all these recommendations.
PATienTS program
The Unité de soutien SSA Québec is launching the Life Trajectory Improvement and Innovation Partnerships in Transition to Sustainable Health (PATienTS program) in collaboration with the four integrated university health and social services networks (RUISSSs). Through the PATienTS program, the activation of the Québec learning health system is being carried out in the RUISSS territories of Québec through four tangible projects over a one-year period.
Continuous Quality Improvement
The Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux du Québec has mandated the Unité de soutien au système de santé apprenant (SSA) Québec to structure and deploy continuous quality improvement (hereinafter referred to as CQI) in order to contribute to the emergence of a learning health system in which the scientific expertise recognized in CQI in Quebec allows for the improvement of practices in the network. Find out more
Summit on the activation of Québec’s learning health system: « From theory to practice »
On May 11, 2023, the Unit held this summit as part of the 90th Acfas congress. The aim of this event was to continue the reflections and exchanges initiated at the symposium “Building Québec’s learning healthcare system together” held in March 2022. View a replay of the event and the infographic summarizing it.
Orientations for learning family medecine groups (GMFs)
The Québec Ministry of Health and Social Services has mandated the Unité de soutien au système de santé apprenant (SSA) Québec to develop guidelines for family medicine groups (GMFs) to help them become “learners”. The project involves developing a program to support GMFs in adopting a culture of reflexivity and continuous quality improvement based on the quintuple objective. A physician advisor and a research coordinator are joining the Unit to carry out this mandate.
In late 2021 and early 2022, the Unit holds two major events:
- The summit « Accès aux données : transparence et consentement numérique » on Octobre 28, 2021.
- At the conclusion of the event, the Unit issued six recommendations to improve access to health and social services data in the province. Its approach is part of a desire to empower individuals to understand and choose in an informed and modern way the scope and use of their data by 2022. Find out more
- “Building Québec’s Learning Health System Together” summit on March 24, 2022.
- The population and key members of the Québec health and social services network gathered to build the future. This event was an opportunity to initiate a real shift towards partnership and continuous improvement of our health system. The event is available for replay.
In 2022, the Unité de soutien SSA Québec, with the expertise of the firm Léger, is administering a survey designed to question the Québec population regarding the improvement of the health system and the sharing of their medical information.
- The results indicate that Quebecers want to be part of the solution, trust the science, value the well-being of the network’s human resources and support digital consent.
Renewed funding
The Unité de soutien au système de santé apprenant (SSA) Québec has had its funding renewed as a provincial unit of the national network of the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) until March 31, 2026, and has made continuous improvement of the Québec health system a joint project with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec.
In 2020, Université de Sherbrooke became the Unit trustee. The executive team moved to the Université de Sherbrooke’s Longueuil campus.
- New professional resources within the executive team (project management, communications and finance)
- New expertises in connection with the LHS. Find out more
Dr. Antoine Groulx was appointed as the designated scientific director and transitioned into the role alongside Dr. Alain Vanasse. Over the following months, the Unit took on a number of key files:
- Second extension of phase 1
- Submission of a renewal proposal to CIHR
- Pandemic COVID-19: adapting the service offer
- Name change: the Unité de soutien SRAP du Québec becomes the Unité de soutien SSA Québec
- Constitution of the community of practice of patients and citizens in research of Québec
- Launch of the Priorité Patient competition in partnership with Oncopole
- Final evaluation by an external firm
- Extension of Phase 1 granted
The Unit hired an outside firm to carry out a mid-term assessment. Changes were also made at the management level:
- Dr. Alain Vanasse is appointed Principal researcher and takes over as Scientific Director
- Mr. Mathieu Trépanier (in memoriam) is appointed to the General Management
- Mr. Joe Guillaume Pelletier is appointed General Manager
- Launch of the RSIJ (Aires ouvertes) competition in partnership with the MSSS and the FRQS
- Launch of a targeted program in community care in partnership with the MSSS and the FRQS
- The Unit’s Summit on Data Access
Ginette Bélec was named general director. Subsequently:
- The launch of the Unit’s Learning Health System Demonstration Project
- Organization of the conference Conditions d’exercice et de réussite de la recherche axée sur le patient at the ACFAS summit.
- The establishment of the joint working table on the use of clinical data from digital medical records in partnership with the INESSS.
The Unit received funding and built its team and service proposal with its partners the MSSS, the FRQ, the RUISSS, McGill University, Université de Montréal, Université Laval and Université de Sherbrooke. It created its first cohort of grant recipients in partnership with the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS). Eleven people received support.
The Unit began to take shape. An agreement between the institutions was signed (the four universities with a faculty of medicine) and a governing framework was adopted.
A target grant competition program was developed in collaboration with the FRQ and the RUISSS.
Dr. Marie-Dominique Beaulieu was the Unit’s first Scientific Director from 2014 to 2017. She was also the general director for two years.
Eleven units have been created (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, the Maritimes, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Yukon).
