Dear Colleagues,
This afternoon, the Ontario Hospital Association, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Canadian Institute for Health Information and the University of Toronto, released Hospital Report 2005: Acute Care. Following on the heels of last week's Hospital Report on emergency care, this report provides the public and hospitals with a "snapshot" of how each acute care hospital performed in 2003/04.
At a provincial level, the report confirms that Ontario hospitals are providing terrific acute care with over 94% of patients ranking their care as "good", "very good" or "excellent." Another highlight is an overall reduction in the number of adverse events in acute care hospitals for both medical and surgical conditions.
How did UHN perform? In the area of Clinical Utilization and Outcomes, I'm thrilled to share that UHN is the only hospital ranked as "high performing." This means that we're performing very well in both day and inpatient surgery with a low rate of readmissions. UHN was recognized in the same area in last week's report on emergency care.
For Patient Satisfaction, UHN scored above the provincial average, thereby reflecting our staff's responsiveness to the needs of patients to ensure that they have the best possible experience at UHN.
In the area of medical readmissions (for AMI, heart failure, asthma, G.I. bleed and stroke), UHN has a low rate of 2.0% compared to the teaching hospital average of 2.2%. Similarly, in the area of surgical readmission rate (for cholecystectomy, hysterectomy and prostatectomy), UHN has a low rate of 1.4% compared to the teaching hospital average of 1.7%.
Overall, this report recognizes UHN staff for their extraordinary commitment and delivery of acute services. The report also highlights opportunities for improvement for each hospital to ensure all Ontarians have the best possible experience and outcome seeking acute care.
Bob