St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) has been awarded ‘Accreditation with Exemplary
Standing' from Accreditation Canada - the highest distinction achievable. STEGH
achieved an overall score of 98.8 percent. Accreditation is a voluntary process
that allows health-care providers to assess every aspect of health care and service
against national standards of excellence.
Exemplary Standing signifies the organization attains the highest level of performance,
achieving excellence in meeting the requirements of the accreditation program.
Accreditation surveyors were on-site at STEGH for four days in June 2012, reviewing
documentation and performance data, observing care processes, interviewing patients,
families, staff, physicians, and community partners to provide a complete evaluation
of the hospital.
"This is not only an exciting achievement for our STEGH team," says STEGH President
and CEO Paul Collins, "But is also validates the high level of patient care excellence
and safety that our employees, physicians and volunteers strive to deliver every
day. Our challenge now will be to sustain, and to continuously improve on this performance
level, and we are up to that challenge."
Highlights from Surveyor Comments in the Executive Summary:
- At STEGH, safety is a key strategic goal. Staff are very committed to improving
and evaluating the delivery of their services for their community in partnership
with others.
- The STEGH approach to ensuring a sustainable health care system for the community
is based on ensuring quality is at the forefront of all initiatives.
- A focus on quality and patient-centred care is articulated as a priority and all
meetings centre around this focus.
- The Board follows good governance practices and offers a diverse skill set in the
membership, with excellent strengths overall.
- The openness to embrace change and innovation, walk the talk, and a true desire
to transform care has generated excitement amongst staff and community partners.
The focus on quality and performance monitoring is evident in many ways.
- All patients and family interviewed by the surveyor team described feeling safe,
well cared for and that they received great communication about what to expect from
the health care teams and staff they encountered.
"Our Board of Governors, and our community can be justifiably proud of their hospital,"
says Paul Bode, Chair of the STEGH Board of Governors. "This accreditation award
is difficult to achieve at this level, and places STEGH among a very select group
of hospitals across the country."
Accreditation Canada provides four different award levels; no accreditation, accreditation,
accreditation with commendation and its highest recognition - accreditation with
exemplary standing. Accreditation is a 3 year cycle which assists STEGH focus on
patient safety standards and quality of care.
The Executive Summary and the full Accreditation Report are available on the hospital's
website at www.stegh.on.ca.
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