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London Health Sciences Center has received a top award from a national healthcare accreditation body for the second year in a row, a significant achievement after years of pandemic pressure, the hospital’s president says.
Published on March 29, 2023 • Last updated on March 29, 2023 • 2 minutes reading time
Jackie Schleifer Taylor, president and chief executive officer of the London Health Sciences Centre, celebrates the hospital’s latest assessment from Accreditation Canada on Wednesday. LHSC received an exemplary grade in the nonprofit organization’s evaluation. (Jennifer Bieman/The London Free Press)
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London Health Sciences Center has received a top award from a national healthcare accreditation body for the second year in a row, a significant achievement after years of pandemic pressure, the hospital’s president says.
LHSC has received the exemplary designation from Accreditation Canada, an independent agency that provides peer-reviewed assessments for healthcare organizations in a variety of operational areas.
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“Across the healthcare system, there are these evidence-based requirements that demonstrate to the community and the populations we serve that we are meeting the requirements,” LHSC President and CEO Jackie Schleifer Taylor said Wednesday.
“As we are one of those 14 acute tertiary-quaternary research hospitals in the province, we have to meet more than 3,000 standards. They’re really explicit.”
The Accreditation Canada team began working with the LHSC almost a year ago, Schleifer Taylor said, culminating in an in-person assessment at the hospital the week of Feb. 13, its first since its last accreditation in 2018, when it also received an exemplary one status received. Accreditation Canada evaluates hospitals every four years.
LHSC received a perfect score in the Required Organizational Practices category. It evaluates six essential measures to reduce risk for patients, including infection control and the safe use of high-risk medications.
In the most recent assessment, the hospital met 99.2 per cent of Accreditation Canada’s 3,348 standards, including safety, ethics, risk management and quality improvement.
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Reviewers also noted LHSC’s strengths in patient and family engagement, as well as its collaborative and integrated care delivery model.
Accreditation Canada judges said LHSC could increase patient and partner engagement in additional areas of care and optimize its digital offerings, from electronic health records to the way patients book appointments and communicate with their care team, Schleifer Taylor said Wednesday .
Accreditation Canada assessors spend time in hospitals and other health care settings – including long-term care homes and primary care practices – where they observe health care workers carrying out their duties and interview patients, families and staff.
Reviewers, including analysts who are experts in their fields, also assess the behind-the-scenes processes at hospitals seeking accreditation.
LHSC covers the costs of the accreditation process, which vary depending on the size of the institution, Schleifer Taylor said.
The Accreditation Canada designation applies to the entire LHSC organization, including the University and Victoria campuses, the Children’s Hospital and the Nazem Kadri Surgical Center, and the external operating rooms on Baseline Road.
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Schleifer Taylor said the exemplary award was a source of great pride for the LHSC employees who worked every day with this goal in mind.
The staff accreditation ceremonies, held on both the Victoria and University campuses on Wednesday, featured presentations from patients, doctors and team members who spoke about what the process has meant to them.
“There were really so many emotions in it. “They are as proud as they should be of what they have done to maintain and exceed those standards, even in the crisis of a first-ever pandemic,” said Schleifer Taylor.
“That’s their success.”
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