Last week I had the privilege of taking part in a panel discussion on health care innovation hosted by the Canadian Club of Toronto, alongside Drs. Brendan Frey (founder of Deep Genomics) and Brett Belchetz (ER physician and co-founder/CEO of Maple). You can join the conversation by watching the webcast
here.
2017 Ontario Budget
On Thursday, the provincial government released their 2017 Budget. This year's budget had a heavy focus on health care, including an investment that will result in a 2% increase for all hospitals with an additional 1.1% available across hospitals for areas of highest need. This increase is certainly welcome news for UHN as we all have acutely felt the impact of stagnated hospital funding in recent years. However, even with this news it is critical that we continue our focus on stewardship and sustainability initiatives to address significant current pressures and to be ready for future demand, which will continue to outpace the funding we receive. We will be paying close attention in the coming months as we receive specifics on this budget and other funding initiatives intended to ease pressures on the system.
Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Irish
Last week the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) announced that UHN's very own Dr. Jonathan Irish has been elected as its President for 2017-18. The AHNS is the single largest organization in North America for the advancement of research and education in head and neck oncology and Dr. Irish is only the second Canadian to hold this esteemed position. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Irish!
Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz – Woman of Action!
Those of us who have worked with Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz know how accurate this title is – she truly is a woman of action, ensuring we deliver the best care and put the needs of our patients first. Last week Mary was honored for her remarkable contributions to medicine as a recipient of the 2017 Wendy Lack Women of Action Scientific Award from the Israel Cancer Research Fund. This award recognizes outstanding individuals who have made a difference through their achievements, leadership and dedication in business, medical and philanthropic communities. Congratulations Mary on this well-deserved award!
Wrapping up 2016-17: Q4 results are now in
2016-17 was an incredible year of renewal at UHN with remarkable progress taking place in each of our eight areas of focus. Results from Q4, which covers January 1 – March 31, are now in and have been posted on
renewinguhn.ca. This quarter the first two modules of our Caring Safely leadership education were delivered, and in response to feedback in the Employee Engagement Survey, Unleashing Peak Performance (UPP), UHN's new performance management system was launched under Team Engagement. We also saw the roll-out of our patient portal, myUHN, which involved both our IT Transformation and Patient Experience teams. Last week the portal reached an incredible new milestone, with over 15,000 patients registered. You find these and other remarkable highlights in reports under each area of focus, by clicking the "Quarterly Progress" tab, or the "What's New" button at the top of each page. If you have any feedback on the reports or areas of focus I encourage you to share it by submitting a comment in the form at the bottom of the website.
As I have mentioned during the Town Halls, we will be moving from eight areas of focus to five foundational areas of focus for 2017-18. I will share more details in next week's
Looking Ahead.
Peter
www.renewinguhn.ca
