Guidelines for Public Interactions with VCH Social Media

The VCH Communications and Public Affairs (CPA) team will monitor VCH's official social channels and respond to comments Monday to Friday, between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. PST with the exception of statutory holidays. Moderators may also check periodically on evenings and weekends. Please allow up to 1 business day for a response.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• TikTok: @vch.healthtok
• YouTube

These guidelines have been created in reference to the Social Media, Websites and Online Communication Policy (D-00-11-30010 | CC_400). 

VCH welcomes your participation in discussions and looks forward to an active exchange of ideas. You are encouraged to share your comments on VCH's official social channels, but VCH expects these interactions to follow the conventions of respectful discourse. VCH moderators will not tolerate comments that are offensive or take the form of harassment. VCH also reserves the right to edit posts for clarification or remove comments that fall under these conditions:

• Public comments that contain sensitive personal information, such as contact details or private medical information
• Violent, obscene, profane, hateful, or racist posts, links, or images
• Comments that threaten or defame any person or organization
• Comments that are unrelated to the topic of the page or posts (for general comments or communications concerning a health care facility, patient experience, or other matter, you can contact us here)
• Solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any financial, commercial, or not-for-profit organizations
• Comments promoting or opposing any person campaigning for election to a political office
• Comments that suggest or encourage illegal activity or posting of material that violates copyrights or trademarks of others
• Repetitive posts copied and pasted or duplicated by single or multiple users
• Contain excessive links or contain code
• Are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms 

Users who repeatedly and/or purposefully post comments that violate the above conditions in any way may be blocked at the discretion of VCH moderators.

By posting on VCH's social media channels, you agree to these terms and conditions. This comment policy is subject to amendment or modification at any time.

Please be aware that by participating on VCH presences on social networks, you are subject to the Terms of Use of the host site. For more information, consult the host website's Terms of Use. 

All comments, visuals, videos and other type of material posted by others on VCH's official social channels ("user-created content") do not necessarily reflect the opinions or ideals of Vancouver Coastal Health, its employees or affiliates. Vancouver Coastal Health (a) does not represent or warrant the accuracy of any statement or product claims made here by users, (b) is not responsible for any User Content on this site, and (c) does not endorse any opinions expressed on VCH's official social channels by users.

Users are encouraged to submit or post content, including photos and videos, if the content meets the standards articulated in VCH's Social Media, Websites and Online Communication Policy and relates to the subject of the online engagement platform. Users may only post their own original content and must not post any personal information of other people (including photos and videos). Reproduced or borrowed content that reasonably appears to violate third party rights will be deleted.

In addition to the social media platform's own Data Use Policy, which applies to all users who have accounts on these platforms, the personal information you post may be collected by Vancouver Coastal Health under s. 26(c) of the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the purposes of engaging and consulting with the public. Please be aware that any information collected may be stored and/or accessed outside of Canada on servers not belonging to Vancouver Coastal Health. To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include any personal information including phone numbers and email addresses in the body of your comment.

For more information please view VCH's Privacy Statement and Terms of Use

Please contact the VCH Communications and Public Affairs team with any questions or concerns regarding Vancouver Coastal Health's social media activity and/or these guidelines at webupdates@vch.ca.