November 8, 2023
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is world-renowned for its excellence in health care, teaching, and research. During the final week of October, Team LHSC’s knowledge and expertise was evident on the world stage, as a small group of leading experts attended the 46th annual World Hospital Congress (WHC) hosted by the International Hospital Federation (IHF) in Lisbon, Portugal.
The conference presented an opportunity to learn alongside health-care leaders from around the world, share knowledge and best practices, exchange new ideas and innovations, and collaborate as an international health-care community.
Select members of Team LHSC were invited to share their own leading practices, perspectives, and research innovations on the world stage. Team members, including physicians, researchers, and staff, presented on surgical best-practice, patient safety, employee wellness, epigenomics and artificial intelligence.
The conference was not only an opportunity to share LHSC’s leading practices globally but also a chance to visit hospitals and facilities in Portugal as LHSC plans for the future of health care through the Master Planning process.
As part of the conference, site visits to seven hospitals in and around Lisbon took place. Through these visits, LHSC has gained insight into global care delivery systems to help inform LHSC’s planning process and improve patient care in London and the region.
“LHSC has a responsibility to grow and evolve with the communities we serve,” said Tammy Quigley, System Innovation and Business Development Executive. “Site visits are a crucial investment to fulfill our commitment to building a world-class, inclusive and innovative system of care that ensures LHSC can continue delivering the highest quality of care for generations to come.”
For more than a year and a half, LHSC has been meeting and talking with patients, community members, Team LHSC and partners to co-create the future of health care as we develop our Master Plan – our blueprint for how we will deliver care to a growing and changing community for decades to come.
In visiting the hospitals throughout Lisbon, LHSC continues to seek out innovative ways to deliver on the five key themes of feedback that emerged in earlier stages of the planning process.
For example, at the Central Lisbon University Hospital Centre (CHULC) LHSC visited a large academic teaching hospital which operates high volume, dedicated emergency departments for adults, paediatrics, and obstetrics. The hospital features experienced robotic surgery teams, transplantation units and an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) rescue team that transports critically ill patients.
The Champalimaud Clinical Centre (CCC) – another location that was toured – is a state-of-the-art medical, scientific and technological institution that has been developed alongside applied research, advanced medical and technical education programs. The CCC provides specialized clinical treatment for oncology and has opened a new building and research centre that is dedicated to pancreatic cancer.
“We have heard what is important to our community, and we know what they want to see in a future system of care,” said Quigley. “Collaboration with global leaders in health care is an important step in ensuring that we can meet those needs and are positioned to continue to provide the best care for the community we serve in a fiscally and environmentally sustainable manner – today and into the future.”