The North Wellington Health Care (NWHC) board of directors discussed key performance indicators, quality improvement planning, budgets and updates to medical staff rules and regulations when they met on Feb. 13.
NWHC’s annual budget for the coming year, starting on April 1, was approved by the board.
The budget being submitted to the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (WWLHIN) is expected to be balanced even with the exclusion of an inflationary increase in funding. This budget is expected to form a major part of the Hospital Services Accountability Agreement signed annually by the hospital with the WWLHIN. A relatively new program called LEAN, introduced to staff over the past two years, has helped to achieve the balanced budget.
“LEAN ‘thinking’ empowers staff to make improvements in the services they provide and is aimed at improving quality and reducing waste. LEAN has worked well to-date in addressing the service and budget challenges for NWHC,” states NWHC in a press release.
The board approved NWHC’s key performance indicators (KPIs), which help NWHC define and measure progress toward the hospital’s goals. These indicators also reflect many of the WWLHIN priorities. Working collectively with the WWLHIN’s KPIs allows NWHC to meet the needs of rural residents and provide quality care, close to home, the board states.
Quality improvement
North Wellington Health Care is moving forward on Quality Improvement Plans (QIP) for 2014-15. The board notes the plan is in line with recent government reporting requirements and provides a meaningful way for NWHC to articulate their accountability to the community, patients and staff.
“The QIP is focused on creating a positive patient experience and delivering high quality health care,” the board states. A component of the plan will affect executive compensation in accordance with the Excellent Care for All Act. Community members can see the plan (QIP) on the hospital’s website at www.wnhealthcare.ca.
Updated regulations
An updated set of NWHC medical staff rules and regulations were approved at the board meeting. A key component of the rules and regulations outlines the responsibility of medical staff for the quality and safety of all professional services provided by practitioners to patients.
The updated rules and regulations are based on the Ontario Hospital Association’s best practices and were developed in consultation with the practitioners. Currently, there are 94 medical staff working at NWHC as doctors, consulting physician specialists, nurse practitioners, dentists and midwives.
The next NWHC board meeting is 7pm on April 10 at the Mount Forest Public Library.
North Wellington Health Care is a regional provider of primary and secondary health services, delivering health care services through fully-accredited hospital sites in Mount Forest and Palmerston.
