Message from Ramona Robinson
Chair, Board of Directors
This year, the Board of Directors recognized an opportunity to incorporate the patient voice into our governance work by introducing a Patient and Family Advisor role to the Board. This new role will assure our patients and their families of a continued focus on the patient experience as we plan for the future of our hospital.”
As I reflect on my second and final year as Chair of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to acknowledge the accomplishments and contributions made by London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). Last year, LHSC launched our 2018-2020 Strategic Plan: Working Together to Shape the Future of Health that builds upon our commitment to provide safe and quality care for our patients and families. The plan was developed in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders including our physicians, staff, patients, families, leaders, students, researchers, and our Board of Directors. This plan, guided by LHSC’s new mission, vision and values, ensures patients are at the centre of everything we do.
This year, the Board of Directors recognized an opportunity to incorporate the patient voice into our governance work by introducing a Patient and Family Advisor role to the Board. This new role will assure our patients and their families of a continued focus on the patient experience as we plan for the future of our hospital.
At the forefront leading our mission is LHSC’s President and CEO, Dr. Paul Woods, whose visionary leadership and collaborative approach has positioned us well during this time of provincial health-care transformation. Dr. Woods’ significant engagement in the system work that is underway will ensure that we are better able to understand, respond and adapt to the changing health-care environment while maintaining the same high quality of care patients expect and deserve.
On behalf of the Board, I would also like to offer our congratulations to Dr. Woods and all those who contributed to the preparation of our organization’s accreditation review which resulted in an “exemplary status.” The Board worked closely with senior leadership during preparation for this review, including facilitating our own accreditation readiness. We will continue to strongly support the efforts of the organization to be accreditation ready every day.
I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Woods and all the LHSC staff, physicians, learners, researchers and volunteers for their dedication and commitment to providing safe, compassionate care for patients.
Finally, I also wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Board of Directors for their ongoing support and contribution of their time and expertise in this voluntary role. With a focus on strategic planning and collaboration internally and externally, the organization continues to grow stronger, and the Board is collectively confident that the future of LHSC is in good hands moving forward.
Message from Dr. Paul Woods
President and CEO
Guided by a new mission, vision and values, and in alignment with our five strategic directions, LHSC continues to strive for daily quality improvement by examining our care delivery systems and resources while looking for effective and efficient partnerships.”
There is much to recognize and celebrate over the past year at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). As President and CEO since January of last year, I am very proud of the accomplishments of all LHSC staff, physicians, researchers, students, and volunteers in supporting and delivering high-quality patient care.
In 2018, LHSC was awarded Accreditation with Exemplary Standing by Accreditation Canada. This designation is the highest award available through the hospital accreditation program. This achievement is a testament to our commitment to continuous improvement to achieve and exceed the very highest standards of health care, and is the result of the hard work and dedication of each and every staff, physician, learner and volunteer in our organization. I thank them for their exemplary efforts throughout this evaluation process. We will continue to be accreditation ready every day through our ongoing commitment to patient quality and safety. Our collective efforts during the accreditation process confirmed for me that when LHSC is tasked with demonstrating our commitment to patients, there is almost nothing that we can’t achieve as a dedicated and compassionate team.
This was also evident in the collaborative approach we took in building our new Strategic Plan. By putting patients at the centre of our collective southwestern Ontario health ecosystem, we are better able to identify and form partnerships to deliver care needs. Our Strategic Plan helps to position LHSC within the overall system of hospitals, community health providers, social service agencies, and public health organizations to better examine how we each operate within this network and identify new ways to provide more seamless care for patients at every point on their health-care journey. This will be crucial during this time of health-care transformation in our province.
Guided by a new mission, vision and values, and in alignment with our five strategic directions, LHSC continues to strive for daily quality improvement by examining our care delivery systems and resources while looking for effective and efficient partnerships. The ecosystem of care is becoming a reality. We are ready for the change, and optimistic about the future this health-care transformation will offer us.
Due to the ongoing challenges of fiscal constraints, and despite a small increase in funding from the province this year, LHSC was unable to maintain a positive financial position for 2018/19, resulting in a $24 million deficit as you will see in the audited financial statements. The funding environment is an ongoing challenge in our province, which does not fully meet our inflationary and operational pressures, but LHSC is committed to finding more effective and efficient ways to deliver care. I am confident investments being made, guided by our Strategic Plan, as well as savings strategies we have identified, will ensure we continue to deliver excellent patient care, and regain financial stability.
As we establish the path forward, I want to acknowledge our volunteer Board of Directors for demonstrating courageous leadership and committing necessary resources to achieving our recent successes. Health-care transformation is constant, and both the Board and I remain committed to working together to shape the future of health.
Message from Dr. Andrea Lum
Chair, Medical Advisory Committee
Residents and trainees come to LHSC to learn and discover, and many of our professional staff are at LHSC to teach, mentor and guide those learners. We value the opportunity to work with trainees, and our accreditation status allows us to continue teaching the professional staff of the future.”
It is my pleasure to provide an update on the work being done by the Medical Advisory Committee (MAC). The MAC is the primary liaison between medical practitioners and the Board of Directors at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) as required by the Public Hospitals Act. We credential the professional staff (physicians, dentists, midwives and fellows) with privileges at the hospital and provide oversight of the medical quality of care and patient safety provided at the hospital.
This year, the MAC has maintained our focus on continuous improvement in the quality and safety of patient care. We continue to measure key indicators that reflect the way professional staff contribute to and promote safe and quality patient care. This indicator data is now available in real time, rather than as a static timeframe-based number, allowing professional staff to monitor and analyze as they work.
As an extension of this quality focus, the MAC played an important role in the preparations ahead of the recent accreditation process. LHSC is an academic health sciences centre with a research mandate, which means we are a hospital dedicated to teaching and innovating within our hospital. Residents and trainees come to LHSC to learn and discover, and many of our professional staff are at LHSC to teach, mentor and guide those learners. We value the opportunity to work with trainees, and our accreditation status allows us to continue teaching the professional staff of the future.
We are extremely proud that LHSC was successful in achieving Accreditation with Exemplary Standing. We congratulate our professional staff and trainees, all of whom are a critical component to providing high-quality patient care, and we thank our staff and volunteers who work in partnership towards providing the best experience possible for patients and their families. The MAC is committed to continuing our focus on delivering care at the highest standard possible by being accreditation ready every day.
I would like to thank my MAC colleagues and all LHSC physicians for their efforts toward improving and sustaining quality care.