Highlighting the resilience of its teams in navigating the pandemic and an ongoing commitment to the highest quality of patient care, LHSC achieves Accreditation Canada’s highest designation.
March 29, 2023
(LONDON, Ontario) – London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded Accreditation with Exemplary Standing by Accreditation Canada.
Accreditation Canada sets the standards for leading practices and patient safety in health-care organizations across Canada and around the world. Exemplary standing is the highest award available through the hospital accreditation program.
LHSC achieved 100 per cent of Required Organizational Practices (ROP), which include six key areas of practice that must be maintained to ensure patient safety and reduce risk. LHSC also met 99.2 per cent of the 3,348 standards that demonstrate high-quality care, including high-priority areas such as safety, ethics, risk management and quality improvement.
“Accreditation with Exemplary Standing is an incredible achievement for both our care teams and our patients,” says Dr. Jackie Schleifer Taylor, President and CEO, LHSC. “This process is a critically important quality improvement exercise, allowing us to identify what we do well and assess where we can make improvements. It has reaffirmed our strong culture of quality and safety, meaning patients, families and the communities we serve can be confident they are receiving exemplary care when they visit LHSC.”
Accreditation Canada completed its survey at LHSC the week of February 13, 2023, marking LHSC’s first on-site assessment since earning its previous Exemplary Standing in 2018. Following the assessment, surveyors noted key areas of strength at LHSC, which include engagement with patients and families, the hospital’s collaborative and integrated care delivery model, and ongoing work to integrate accreditation into operations.
“We are exceptionally proud of our staff and physicians who, despite the challenges of the pandemic, have continued to demonstrate dedication and resilience in all aspects of our people-centered approach to care,” says Dr. Schleifer Taylor. “This designation recognizes our commitment to prioritizing safe, quality care and continuously improving our processes and systems to advance and drive innovation in how we serve the community.”
While the organization is taking pause this week to recognize the achievement, the effort doesn’t stop here. Accreditation is an ongoing journey of learning, innovation and quality improvement.
“The cycle of assessment and improvement is ongoing,” adds Dr. Schleifer Taylor. “This allows us to continuously look at and improve all aspects of our operations. From leadership to care to infrastructure, Accreditation pushes us to learn, innovate, identify efficiencies, build stronger teams, and ultimately strengthen our robust culture of quality and safety within and outside of our walls.”
While this designation applies to the whole organization, it is actually the third Accreditation award LHSC has received this year.
In January, LHSC’s Clinical Neurological Sciences Department received a Stroke DistinctionTM designation from Accreditation Canada. Stroke DistinctionTM means that LHSC has demonstrated national leadership in the delivery of high-quality stroke care and has met the criteria of Canadian Stroke Best Practices with Heart and Stroke Canada.
In February, LHSC’s Canadian Surgical Technologies & Advanced Robotics (CSTAR) program received a five-year Accreditation certification from both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS). This dual certification is a testament to the high standards in simulation training achieved by only two centres in Canada.
Learn more about what Accreditation is and why it is important on Accreditation Canada’s website.
About Accreditation Canada
Accreditation Canada is an independent, not-for-profit organization that is 100 percent Canadian. For more than 55 years, Accreditation Canada has set national standards and shared leading practices from around the globe to continue to raise the bar for health quality. As the leader in Canadian health care accreditation, we accredit more than 1,200 health care and social services organizations in Canada and around the world. Accreditation Canada is accredited by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) www.isqua.org, a tangible demonstration that our programs meet international standards. To find out more about Accreditation Canada at www.accreditation.ca
For media inquiries, please contact:
Steve Robinson
Senior Media Relations Consultant
London Health Sciences Centre
519-685-8500 x 35947
media@lhsc.on.ca
After-hours assistance:
- Call LHSC Switchboard at 519-685-8500 and ask to page the communicator on-call.
- Visit the LHSC Media webpage
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