Patient Relations Specialist

Hamilton Family Health Team; Hamilton; On-site; CAD 55,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

HOOPP retirement plan

Meaningful, purpose-based work

12 paid stat holidays + float day

Flexible work schedule

Green initiatives

Job summary

Hamilton Family Health Team is seeking a Patient Experience Specialist to lead patient relations and experience initiatives. You will work with physician affairs, clinical managers, and primary care practices to co-design processes, analyze patient feedback, and develop quarterly trend reports.

You will engage with the Patient and Family Advisory Group and plan Patient Experience Week, ensuring equity-driven, person-centered care across HFHT sites and programs.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in health-related field or related discipline.
• 3–5 years in patient relations, patient experience, health advocacy, or related healthcare role.
• Demonstrated experience in managing patient complaints with a person-centered approach.
• Strong skills in service recovery, conflict resolution, facilitation, and negotiation.
• Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion; Indigenous Cultural Safety or related training an asset.
• Familiarity with Ontario legislation including ECFAA, PQIPA, Apology Act.
• Strong data analysis skills with the ability to produce clear, actionable reports for non-technical audiences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with ability to engage across all organizational levels.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple files and priorities.
• Experience with patient and family engagement or advisory programs is an asset.
• Proficiency with EMR or patient experience survey platforms; familiarity with Ontario primary care systems is an asset.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary contact for patients, families, and caregivers for concerns, complaints, or compliments, ensuring timely, compassionate responses.
• Manage end-to-end patient relations processes within legislated timeframes and policies.
• Co-design patient relations processes across HFHT sites for consistency.
• Apply equity, diversity, and inclusion principles in all interactions.
• Liaise with primary care practices to support concern resolution at the practice level.
• Identify themes from patient feedback to inform quality improvement.

Skills

Patient relations

Service recovery

Conflict resolution

Facilitation

Negotiation

Equity, diversity, inclusion

Data analysis

Written and verbal communication

Organization

EMR familiarity

Education

Undergraduate degree in health-related field / related discipline

Indigenous Cultural Safety training or related equity training (asset)

Ontario legislation familiarity (ECFAA, PQIPA, Apology Act)

Tools

EMR

Job description

Together, we do amazing things every day.

Imagine a supportive employer, a career that fits your lifestyle, and many learning opportunities. With the Hamilton Family Health Team, you can have all of that, and more.We work hard to create an innovative and diverse workplace that values the contributions of our employees. No matter what your role, working with us is about making a difference – every day!

The Patient Experience Specialist is responsible for building, implementing, and continuously improving HFHT's patient relations and patient experience programs. This role is the primary point of contact for patients, families, and caregivers navigating concerns, complaints, or compliments about their care — and a key driver of how HFHT listens and responds at an organizational level.

You will work collaboratively with physician affairs, clinical managers, and primary care practices to co-design patient relations processes that are consistent, equitable, and person-centered. You will bring data to life through quarterly trend reports and an annual patient experience report, and you will play an active role in HFHT's Patient and Family Advisory Group — including leading the planning of Patient Experience Week each year.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Patient Relations

• Serve as the primary contact for patients, families, and caregivers with concerns, complaints, or compliments, ensuring responses are timely, compassionate, and resolution-focused in accordance with the Excellent Care for All Act, 2010.
• Manage the end-to-end patient relations process — intake, acknowledgement, investigation, resolution, and follow-up — within legislated timeframes and organizational policy.
• Co-design and evolve the patient relations process in collaboration with physician affairs and clinical managers, ensuring consistency across HFHT's sites and practices.
• Apply equity, diversity, and inclusion principles in all interactions, ensuring culturally sensitive and responsive engagement with the diverse communities HFHT serves.
• Liaise with primary care practices to support concern resolution at the practice level, coaching staff and providers on service recovery and conflict resolution.
• Identify and surface themes from patient feedback to inform quality improvement and organizational learning.

Patient and Family Advisory Group

• Support the coordination and facilitation of the Patient and Family Advisory Group (PFG), including meeting preparation, agenda development, and action follow-up.
• Build trust-based relationships with patient and family advisors, supporting their meaningful participation in organizational work.
• Lead the planning and execution of Patient Experience Week in partnership with the PFG.
• Identify opportunities to embed patient and family voice into quality improvement, program development, and organizational decision-making.

Data Analysis and Reporting

• Administer and analyze HFHT's patient experience survey program, ensuring data accuracy and meaningful interpretation.
• Develop and produce quarterly patient experience trending reports for the Quality Committee.
• Lead the development of the annual patient experience report, synthesizing survey data, patient relations themes, and advisory group insights.
• Support the Manager in preparing patient experience summaries for the Board Quality Committee and other governance audiences.

Collaboration and Engagement

• Work cross-functionally with clinical managers, physician affairs, and program leads to embed patient experience principles into operations and improvement work.
• Support staff and provider capacity to respond to patient concerns with empathy, professionalism, and a focus on resolution.
• Stay current with best practices through external networks including the Ontario Patient Relations Association and the local Ontario Health Team.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Undergraduate degree in a health-related field, social sciences, communications, or a related discipline.
• Three (3) to five (5) years of experience in patient relations, patient experience, health advocacy, or a related healthcare role.
• Demonstrated experience managing patient complaints and concerns with a person‑centred, resolution‑focused approach.
• Strong skills in service recovery, conflict resolution, facilitation, and negotiation.
• Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in practice; training in Indigenous Cultural Safety, unconscious bias, or allyship an asset.
• Familiarity with relevant Ontario legislation, including the Excellent Care for All Act, 2010, the Quality of Care Information Protection Act, and the Apology Act.
• Strong data analysis skills with experience producing clear, actionable reports for non‑technical audiences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to engage effectively across all levels of the organization — from patients and families to governance bodies.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple active files and priorities simultaneously.
• Experience with patient and family engagement or advisory programs an asset.
• Proficiency with EMR or patient experience survey platforms; familiarity with Ontario primary care systems an asset.

Why join the HFHT?

Competitive Employee Value Proposition including, but not limited to:

• Healthcare of Ontario Pension (HOOPP)
• Meaningful, purpose‑based work
• 12 paid Stat holidays and one (1) extra float day
• Flexible work schedule
• Ongoing green initiatives

Summary

Classification: Non-Union

Primary Location: Hamilton

Employee Class: Full Time 1.0 FTE

Schedule: Monday‑Friday

Date Available: ASAP

Note:

If successful in receiving a job offer with the Hamilton Family Health Team, new hires will be required to provide proof of full COVID‑19 vaccination prior to start date as a condition of their employment. If successful candidates are unable to get their COVID‑19 vaccination as a result of a medical exemption, they will be required to submit supporting documentation to determine if they are exempt from this requirement.

The HFHT is committed to building a respectful, caring, equitable, and inclusive workplace where staff reflect the diversity of the communities that we serve. As such, we welcome applications from all qualified individuals including all equity‑deserving groups. In addition, we are committed to accessibility and creating a barrier free hiring process in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005). Accommodation is available upon request at any point in the selection process by notifying the recruitment staff.