London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) works within a system of care that extends across many partner organizations. Our strategic priority of integrated care focuses on ensuring patient and family experiences in the health-care system are seamless, and that patients receive care in the right place and at the right time.
Over the past year, we focused on supporting growing health-care needs across our community and facilitating more seamless transitions in care, including through new technologies. We continued to partner in our community on initiatives like the Health and Homelessness Whole of Community System Response and the opening of a new obstetrics clinic with London InterCommunity Health Centre.
Collaborating with peer hospitals, Ontario Health, TransForm Shared Service Organization, and Oracle Health, LHSC was among the first hospitals in the province to implement the Ontario eHub Health Information Exchange. The technology was initially launched to help facilitate patient transitions from hospital to long-term care by providing access to patients' health information for long-term care staff.
With eHub, LHSC can share vital patient information, including medication, health history, allergies, and care plans, with long-term care providers across southwestern Ontario within 30 minutes of a patient's discharge. Before this new technology, different electronic health record systems used by different organizations led to challenges in accessing patient data.
"By enabling seamless coordination of care and information, patients and their loved ones will no longer be responsible for relaying their medical history to health-care professionals as they transition to long-term care," said Andrew Mes, Digital Health Executive and Corporate Information Officer, LHSC. "We are using the latest technology to streamline the exchange of health information with our long-term care partners."
The project simplifies and expedites data sharing between the hospital and other health-care organizations, enhancing patient care coordination.
Highly supportive housing units established by LHSC and London Cares are making a difference for those with complex needs who live without housing
Through a partnership designed to tackle one of the most pressing community issues, LHSC and London Cares Homeless Response Services announced the establishment of 25 highly supportive housing units as part of London's Health & Homelessness Whole of Community System Response in October 2023.
Using existing apartments at 362 Dundas Street, our organizations offer health and social support services to residents who call these spaces home. The spaces are assisting those with complex health needs, including discharged hospital patients at high risk of readmission due to experiencing chronic homelessness.
As of March 2024, the highly supportive housing units are showing incredible promise in improving the lives of residents, including through the following early results:
"When patients leave our hospitals, they should have a safe place to go," said Brad Campbell, Corporate Hospital Administrative Executive, LHSC. "These highly supportive housing units in partnership with London Cares are demonstrating that housing is health care, ensuring more people have a roof over their head while they continue to heal and rebuild their lives."
To further advance integrated care and improve access for pregnant individuals from marginalized communities, LHSC and London InterCommunity Health Centre (LIHC) opened a new obstetrics clinic in January 2024. The clinic, located at LIHC, operates biweekly on Wednesdays and features two obstetrician-gynecologists and one family medicine obstetrician from LHSC on a rotational basis.
Previously, patients from LIHC needing specialized obstetric care had to travel to LHSC. However, patients from marginalized communities often face challenges in accessing care, such as transportation. The new clinic eliminates these barriers by providing specialized care directly on-site, including essential prenatal imaging with two ultrasound units donated by LHSC. This on-site service is crucial for monitoring fetal development and ensuring timely medical intervention.
"The people we serve don't typically access health care in the traditional way, due to a number of barriers such as homelessness, mental health, and other hardships," said Greg Nash, Director of Program Development & Complex Urban Health, LIHC. "To change that, we are partnering differently and using the trust we have already established to bring women who are pregnant to this new clinic, to ensure they get the obstetrics care they need."
Driven by new approaches to care, LHSC and our partners are committed to transforming the health-care system to better serve our community. Looking ahead, our team remains dedicated to forging new partnerships and leveraging innovative solutions to continue improving health-care delivery and outcomes.