Our people made us first

Board chairman Kip Woodward (centre) with other members of the board and senior executive team with a message for staff: We appreciate the good work that you do everyday.

After months of preparation, our unofficial Accreditation results for Vancouver and VCH Leadership are in with a cumulative, record-breaking score of 98%! There’s no point in being modest because this is an outstanding result and I am proud of each and every person who has contributed to our collective success – not just during the five days of Accreditation, but every day that we show up and serve in this demanding, yet rewarding profession.

Survey visit

Surveyors were on site in 20 different Vancouver locations from November 25 – 30. Using the new Accreditation Canada Qmentum process, they focused on information gathering through first-person interactions in small group and one-on-one discussions. In the end, their comments were overwhelmingly positive. In the surveyors’ own words, VCH achieved “outstanding compliance, proving itself as one of the very best organizations in Canada for integrated health systems”.

The review process places significant emphasis on quality, looking at evidence of our population focus (working with community to anticipate and meet needs), accessibility, safety, wellness in the workplace, client-centered services, seamless continuity of services, effectiveness and efficiency, among other things. Out of a total 2303 quality dimensions assessed across VCH Leadership and Governance and clinical programs in the Vancouver Community of Care, only 49 criteria were unmet, most of which related to lower-priority themes in the accreditation standards. Thirty two criteria were deemed not applicable. This means that VCH met 2222 criteria, which, calculated as a percentage of all applicable criteria, gives us that impressive score of 98%.

Surveyors commented that our People First lens and True North goals resonated with them, and that they saw clear evidence of the same reaction in frontline staff. They were impressed with the enthusiasm of unit-level employees who not only answered their questions, but invited them to come see real-life examples of innovation and quality improvement initiatives in action.

Our strengths

The list of our specific strengths is long, but includes committed and highly engaged staff, excellent teamwork and collaboration, use of improvement science and tools, continued enhancement in patient flow, extensive application of LEAN and other quality tools and methods, the “One Vancouver” initiative to better link acute and community services, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), standard order sets and clinical algorithms, and a variety of innovative and effective safety initiatives such as the Med Rec spread plan with time lines, safety huddles, VTE prophylaxis, Surgical checklist, and Safety Learning System.

Areas for improvement

Naturally the surveyors also identified opportunities for improvement, such as more proactive management of increased patient acuity and demand for tertiary and quaternary services, and ongoing development and implementation of an integrated information management system.

All feedback gets captured in an onsite report that provides detailed results of our performance against all Accreditation Canada standards. SET members have seen the preliminary results, but we expect to receive the final report sometime in the next two weeks. This will come with a letter outlining details on any required follow-up on high-priority unmet criteria. Five months post-survey, accreditors will conduct an evidence review to make sure we have made any necessary improvements.

But for now, we celebrate!

Those who work in health care know that not every day is positive. This is a demanding and complex business, but the most significant thing that sets us apart is our people. These Accreditation results are validation that we are doing the right things, that we, as a dedicated group of people, are making Vancouver Coastal Health one of the most effective, efficient, innovative and downright best, health services organizations in Canada. And for this, I thank you.