Last week, with one hour's notice, the team in the Laboratory Medicine Program had a two-day College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation inspection from a team from the University of Chicago. Their comments speak to the dedication of an extraordinary group of health care professionals. Here is what one reviewer said:
"I want to return to my own lab and implement some of what I saw here!" "Everyone was so open and hospitable!" "I was very impressed, this is a really great group." The result – a 99% compliance rate with only 46 citations from over 6,000 requirements. It is clear that the standards in our laboratories are always high and this rigour and dedication benefit our patients each and every day. My sincere thanks to the entire team led over the recent years by Dr. Sylvia Asa who have built a state-of-the-art pathology and laboratory medicine program.
I'd also like to call people's attention to the 25th anniversary of the Multi-Organ Transplant program. The video, which can be viewed here, gives you an overview of what the program has accomplished and contributed to the lives of many people who were given a second chance at life because of organ donation. It is clear that the start of the program was very challenging and I'm told that none of it would have been possible without the support and vision of Drs. Bernard Langer, Arnold Aberman and Alan Hudson. As we look ahead in the transplant program, we can thank those who were resolute in their support. Without those individuals and their fortitude during challenging times, today's success wouldn't be possible.
I also want to remind people again that the privacy of personal health information is something that society and UHN takes very seriously. The Attorney General of the Province of Ontario has asked the Ontario Provincial Police to look in to cases where the health records have been looked at by people outside the patient's circle of care. The Government of Ontario is considering amendments to the statutes which will see the fines for individuals and organizations increased – to $50,000 for the individual and $250,000 for organizations that do not work with their employees around privacy. UHN has done a number of things to increase awareness around the need for Privacy including a mandatory privacy course, random audits of the access logs to patient records, and presentations from our Privacy office to various units throughout UHN. We take these matters very seriously and we want the entire UHN community to respect patients' rights to privacy of their own health information.
Peter
