Quality and Patient Safety Initiatives

Quality and patient safety for our patients is our priority. Niagara Health has a Quality Reporting Framework which serves to coordinate quality monitoring and reporting of information between the various programs and the Board of Trustees. The goal of the framework is to continuously monitor, improve and enhance patient care and to meet best practice and Accreditation Canada standards.

This framework serves as the foundation for quality improvement throughout the NHS, providing focus and strategic alliances for all departments and services supporting quality care.There are a number of initiatives implemented over the last year focused on improving quality and patient safety, such as:

• The development and implementation of a corporate Patient Safety Plan outlining key priorities and action plans designed to improve patient safety;
• The completion of a Patient Safety Culture Survey by front-line staff and healthcare providers;
• Refinement of morbidity and mortality reviews;
• Preparation and testing for emergency response situations (e.g. Fire safety, Pandemic Planning, H1N1, etc.);
• Focus on medication safety by improving our drug dispensing system;
• Focus on key patient safety projects, for example Safer Healthcare Now initiatives, including preventing infections after surgery;
• Public reporting of patient safety and quality indicators, such as wait times and patient satisfaction.

Quality continues to improve and is evidenced by:

• ER average wait times for high acuity patients are improving at all our sites;
• Nine out of 10 NHS patients wait less than LHIN and provincial averages in the areas of General Surgery, Cancer Surgery for Breast, Genitourinary, Gastrointestinal, and MRI;
• Marked reduction in wait times since 2005-06 for CT scans (49 per cent reduction) and Cataract surgeries (36 per cent reduction); and,
• The NHS has been identified as one of only two hospitals in the 2008 Hospital Report as a High Performer in Utilization & Outcomes Acute Care. Clinical indicators help to explain the amount of care hospitals provide (utilization) and the quality of that care (outcome). Indicators focus on readmission rates, adverse events and access to angiography.