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In June 2010, the Ontario Government passed the Excellent Care for All Act (ECFAA)—legislation designed to support hospitals to
further enhance the quality and safety of care they provide. ECFAA reflects the importance of putting patients first by improving
the quality of their care through the application of evidence-based health care. The intent of the Act is to make health care
providers and executives accountable for improving patient care and enhancing the patient experience.
At Brockville General Hospital, we welcome this initiative as it embodies the tenets of our BGH mission statement: To provide an
excellent patient experience—guided by the people we serve, delivered by people who care.
One element of ECFAA is public reporting of Quality Improvement Plans (QIP) to enhance accountability. The QIP is made up of two
parts: the Short Form document that gives a brief overview, and the Chart of Targets and Initiatives spreadsheet. On April 1st, 2011,
Brockville General Hospital posted its Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) for 2011-2012 on its web site for public view.
“BGH has had a Strategic Plan in place for some years now that is updated regularly,” explains Heather Crawford, CNE/VP Clinical
Services for BGH, “but with ECFAA the hospitals need to pinpoint three main focuses—steps chosen to address improvement—and how
these would work with other related initiatives.”
The three areas of improvement targeted by BGH for the coming year are medicine reconciliation, increased fall and injury prevention,
and hand hygiene. “These areas were chosen for a variety of reasons,” Crawford says. “Medication reconciliation is a requirement of
Accreditation Canada, and BGH has a focus on medication reconciliation throughout the organization. We are not 100% compliant yet,
and need to ensure that this first step (in the Emergency Department) is completed accurately. BGH has noticed an increase in
falls,” she continues, ”so we want to focus on our fall and injury prevention program to ensure it is reflective of best practice in
reducing falls. Hand hygiene reporting is mandated by government, and is fundamental to our ability to contain infection and to
prevent infection from occurring in hospital.”
“Ultimately,” says Crawford “the quality plan ensures that we are accountable to both the patient and his/her family, and to our staff.
This formalizes a process that has been in place for many years in healthcare.”
Another requirement of ECFAA is the drafting of a Patient Bill of Rights or Declaration of Values, in consultation with the public. In
partnership with various stakeholder groups within Brockville General Hospital, a draft “BGH Patient Bill of Rights and Responsibilities”
was created and posted for public input from March 30th to April 30th, 2011. Once consultation with the public had been completed, the
draft was finalized. Then it posted on the BGH web site in May 2011, for public reference and in accordance with the ECFFA requirements.
You may find both these documents posted below.
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