← Grounded in earlier dialogue: Roundtable and Workshop April 2026

Beyond Access: Reframing Healthcare Equity in Ottawa

A Synthesis of the 2026 Roundtable & Workshop Series

Main Signal: Event Recap

The "Beyond Access" series successfully shifted the conversation from a simple lack of services to a deeper investigation into implementation and governance failures. Our findings indicate that healthcare barriers are not random; they are produced at the intersection of administrative eligibility, navigation, and system design.

The "Administrative Algorithm" of Exclusion

Participants identified that the current system assumes a level of stability—stable housing, reliable mail access, and high system literacy—that many newcomers simply do not have. When these assumptions fail, the resulting "non-compliance" is often a signal of systemic design flaws rather than individual failure.

Key Shift in Perspective

From: Access as a service availability issue.
To: Access as a multi-level governance and system design problem.

Call to Action (CTA): The Roadmap

To reflect the workshop’s participatory outcomes, the study promotes these specific community-driven directions:

Implement Health Navigators: Developing a network of dedicated case managers to bridge the gap between eligibility and delivery.

Need-Based Clinics: Moving toward flexible, context-responsive service models that prioritize urgent needs over rigid physician attachment.

Co-Produced Knowledge: Future mobilization efforts will focus on multilingual communication strategies, including storytelling and podcasts, to ensure research reflects the communities it serves.

← View the Roundtable and Workshop April 2026