TORONTO – Four Ontario hospitals have been recognized as "high performing" in a report on hospital acute care services released today by Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman and Ontario Hospital Association President and CEO Hilary Short.

Hospital Report 2005: Acute Care says that Guelph General Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital (Kitchener), Headwaters Health Care Centre (Orangeville) and Kingston General Hospital have performed above average in two or more areas based on 2003/04 data from hospitals.

Acute care involves overnight stays of a relatively short time for serious health problems. Acute care hospitals provide diagnosis, medical care and surgery for serious or life-threatening conditions such as a heart attack or stroke.

"This report provides some insightful information on how hospitals are doing in providing care to people with serious or life-threatening health problems," Smitherman said. "Through this acute care report, as with the rehabilitation and emergency care reports released earlier this year, we are highlighting hospitals that are providing above-average services. In this way, best practices can be shared among hospitals for the benefit of patients across the province."

Readmission rates for medical and surgical patients have decreased across Ontario. And, adverse events for medical and surgical patients have decreased across the province over the past two years.

Since 1998, Ontarians have had access to independently researched reports dealing with the performance of hospitals across the province. This is the fifth report with hospital-specific data on acute care, and the first Acute Care report to identify high performing hospitals.

The report on acute care looks at five areas: patient care, patient satisfaction, dealing with change, financial performance and condition, and women's health.

"Taxpayers make a substantial investment in our health care system and they are entitled to know how well our province's hospitals are performing," said Short. "Through the voluntary efforts by hospitals to provide information as part of the Hospital Report series, and more specifically, to this acute care report, hospitals are able to share best practices and learn from the success stories of their peers. We believe that this commitment to enhanced services and accountability will lead to improved patient care for all Ontarians."

Independently prepared by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and the Hospital Report Research Collaborative at the University of Toronto, Ontario's Hospital Reports are considered one of the most advanced approaches to reporting on hospital performance in North America.

"The Hospital Report series has always served as an important initiative for supporting Ontario hospitals in measuring their performance," said Glenda Yeates, CIHI's president and CEO. "This year's report builds on that effort, helping hospitals to continuously improve their services and quality of care. In this way, hospitals will be better able to meet the needs of their patients and provide increased accountability to their communities into the future."

"The results in this report point to significant change and challenges in our hospital system, including the impact of SARS, but it also points to hospitals' continuing efforts to respond to these challenges by developing quality control and improvement strategies," said Adalsteinn Brown, principal researcher, Hospital Report Research Collaborative.

The acute care report is the third in a series of four hospital reports being released this year. The rehabilitation report was released in mid-July and the emergency department care report was released in September. A report on complex continuing care will be released later this year.

• health.gov.on.ca,
• www.oha.com, and
• www.hospitalreport.ca

or by calling 1-877-234-4343 or (TTY) 1-800-837-5559.

For further information :

Members of the general public : (416) 327-4327, or (800) 268-1154

Backgrounder Hospital Report 2005: Acute Care 2 pages | 48k | PDF format

REPORT Hospital Report 2005 : Acute Care

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