Our Strategic Directions

Our Strategic Directions

Extending our strategic directions will keep us focused and on course with critical strategic initiatives underway, including the regional Lumeo Health Information System implementation and our hospital redevelopment project, while continuing to address our health human resource, financial and operational pressures. Most importantly, our vision, mission and values continue to resonate, and our strategic directions, grounded in health care's Quintuple Aim, remain as relevant today as they were when we created our plan five years ago.

1. Ensure quality in every patient experience

We aim to create a quality patient experience where excellence is embedded in everything we do. By creating a quality roadmap, we will provide the necessary structure, focus and support for us to achieve this goal. We will position KHSC as a high performer on the key dimensions of quality to ensure we are always delivering care that is safe, effective, patient-centred, efficient, timely and equitable. This work will be supported through construction and improvements to care environments to best suit the needs of our patients, families and care teams.

Ruth Bradshaw is pictured caring for a patient who is lying in a hospital bed. Bradshaw has white/silver hair, pulled back into a bun, black framed glasses and is wearing blue scrubs with a mask. She’s leaning over the patient in the bed, and her hand is on his upper arm in a loving way.
To achieve this strategic direction we will:
  • Make quality the foundation of everything we do

KHSC will create a robust culture of quality by building a roadmap to prioritize quality aims, training our teams to engage in quality improvement and aligning their work to areas that will make the biggest difference to our communities. As a result of this work, staff will have the support that they need to make quality improvement a part of their daily work and KHSC will benchmark as a high performer amongst Ontario’s academic hospitals and on Health Quality Ontario’s dimensions of quality.

  • Ensure smooth transitions in care for patients and families across our regional health-care system

We want all of our patients and their families to have better access to and transitions in care. We will continue working with our health system partners to create regional care pathways that address the priority health needs of the people who live in this region. As a result of this work, patients and families, including those who are vulnerable and marginalized, will have better access to and transitions in care and they will experience the same standard of quality no matter where they seek care in the region.

  • Lead the evolution of people-centred care

We will continue to partner with patients and families on all decisions that have an impact on the patient experience in our hospital. As a result of this work, patients and families will be full partners in their care teams, and in the work we do as an academic health sciences centre. We will continue to work with our communities to understand their unique health care needs and to ensure that the care we provide is culturally sensitive and respects diversity.

  • Create the space for better care

We must invest in our spaces and keep pace with technology in order to maintain our high standards of care and facilitate better flow of information for enhanced safety, convenience and care coordination. During the life of this plan, we will launch major improvements to our physical environment as we modernize our KGH site and make facility improvements at the HDH site. Our communities will be inspired to provide philanthropic support through donations to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation. This will help ensure that we contribute the required local share for this important project.

By 2027 
  • KHSC has a robust culture of quality where adherence to standards and evidence-based practice drives decision-making in every program and service
  • KHSC benchmarks as a high performer amongst Ontario teaching hospitals, delivering outcomes that matter to patients and families at the best cost
  • KHSC works with community partners to deliver integrated, team-based, people-centred care. 
  • People will have better access to in-person and virtual care and safe, supportive transitions from one provider to another 
  • People and communities are partners in designing people-centred models of care, research and teaching
  • Our communities are inspired to provide philanthropic support for hospital modernization
In 2024-2025 together with our patients, families and partners we will:
  • Build a quality framework that aligns clinical processes and financial  investments with quality standards, evidence-based practices and targeted improvements that drive outcomes and care experiences that matter to the people we serve
  • Develop integrated clinical pathways to improve patient care and keep people healthy in their homes and communities across Southeastern Ontario
    and beyond
  • Care for patients in the environment that best suits their needs in collaboration with community health and social service providers
  • Partner with the people we serve in designing people-centred models of care, research and teaching
  • Build safe, modern facilities for complex, acute and specialty care, research and teaching

2. Nurture our passion for caring, leading and learning

A quality work environment touches everyone who steps inside our hospital, especially patients and families. KHSC will support an engaged workforce by nurturing a positive, healthy environment and strengthening our culture of safety. By looking for new or faster ways to tackle tasks that detract from providing care, we will aim to support our people so they can improve the quality of the time they spend with patients, families and each other. Together with leaders across our organization, we will empower and equip our people while inspiring our teams to do their very best work.

Ektaben Ka Patel speaks with a colleague on Connell 10
To achieve this strategic direction we will:
  • Foster a safe, healthy, innovative working environment that inspires and motivates the people who work, learn and volunteer at KHSC

We are committed to implementing innovative people practices to enhance joy in work so that KHSC has a stable, engaged workforce where people find meaning in what they do. We will enhance our culture of safety so that everyone who works, learns and volunteers at KHSC feels safe and supported every day. And, we work hard to create a positive, engaging environment where our people report high rates of wellness at work.

  • Empower and develop our people

We will enhance support for ongoing education so that our people are properly equipped to do their best work.

  • Develop confident caring and capable leaders

We will provide time, support and opportunities for leaders to learn, develop and grow so that our leaders stay highly engaged.

By 2027
  • KHSC has a stable, engaged work force
  • Our people report improved wellness at work
  • KHSC has a strong culture of safety
  • Our people are equipped to do their best work
  • Our leaders are highly engaged
In 2024-2025 together with our patients, families and partners we will:
  • Develop a framework and strategy for enhancing Psychological Health & Safety in the workplace.

  • Continue to cross-train staff across clinical areas.

  • Enhance learning for new and emerging leaders.

3. Improve the health of our communities through partnership and innovation 

We want to provide care that best meets every patient’s needs no matter where they are in our region or what their unique challenges may be. By working more closely with our health and social service partners we can make sure patients get the right care where and when it’s needed most. This might mean placing our experts and services in the community and actively involving community partners as members of our care teams.  At the same time, we want to continue our pursuit of innovation and discover new ways of delivering care, research and teaching to make our region healthier.

 

To achieve this strategic direction we will:
  • Be a hospital beyond our walls that delivers complex, acute and specialty care where and when it is needed most

We will improve access to care across the region by placing our experts and services where they are needed most in the community and by including community, health and social service partners as active members of our inter-professional care, research and teaching teams. We will also work with our hospital partners to transform clinical processes here at KHSC and across our region through the implementation of a regional Hospital Information System. As a result of this work, there will be one patient information system that supports a coordinated patient journey throughout our regional health care system.

  • Discover and apply innovations that improve patient outcomes and make our communities healthy

We are establishing an innovation portfolio that will identify and support key areas that are aligned to regional population health needs. As a result of this work, we will implement innovations that improve patient outcomes, while establishing key areas of excellence for which KHSC becomes renowned.

By 2027
  • Together with FLA OHT partners, KHSC delivers proactive, evidence-based care for patients with chronic conditions.
  • KHSC specialty care services are smoothly connected to other parts of the health-care system.
  • We have one, accessible, information system that supports a coordinated patient journey.
  • KHSC identifies several key areas of excellence that align with regional population health needs.
In 2024-2025 together with our patients, families and partners we will:
  • Lead the development and adoption of new models of integrated, team-based care that include community health and social service partners as active partners in our multidisciplinary care, research and teaching teams
  • Take our care beyond the walls of KHSC by placing our experts and services where they are needed most in the community
  • Enable clinical transformation through the implementation of a regional Health Information System
  • Establish an innovation portfolio that responds to the unique health needs of our regional population

4. Launch KHSC as a leading centre for research and education

Learning doesn’t end when a graduate crosses the stage – it’s an ongoing practice that we will embrace and foster at KHSC among our students, residents, staff and leaders. Working with our educational partners, we will restructure the way we deliver learning, support academic partnerships to strengthen our brand as a teaching and research hospital and position KHSC as a destination academic health sciences centre – a place where students, researchers and staff alike are inspired to learn and discover. By nurturing this culture of learning and the pursuit of knowledge, KHSC will remain on the leading edge of care, meaning that patients in southeastern Ontario will have access to world-class specialty and acute care, closer to home.

Cancer Clinical Trials
To achieve this strategic direction we will:
  • Foster a culture of teaching, learning, research and scholarship.

KHSC strives to be a leader in the evolution of inter-professional education, as well as being an academic hospital that supports a patient-centred curriculum and research projects that are aligned with regional population health needs. We will work together with our educational partners to plan and deliver the highest quality learning experience. In partnership with our research institutes, we will engage southeastern Ontario as a living laboratory for patient-oriented research and our communities will be inspired to provide philanthropic support for research. Supported through a formal organizational learning portfolio, we will build a strong brand as a centre for teaching, learning and scholarship. As a result of this work, our learners will report high satisfaction with the learning environment at KHSC, placement opportunities will align with our region’s health care needs and research discoveries will benefit patients and families across our region.

By 2027
  • KHSC has a coordinated plan for all clinical learners, including nursing, allied health and medical students and residents
  • Enhanced research activities lead to novel discoveries that transform clinical care for our patient population
  • KHSC and its research institute become nationally recognized for people-centred research and innovation excellence
In 2024-2025 together with our patients, families and partners we will:
  • Advance multidisciplinary education
  • Create structures with our educational partners that help us to plan and deliver high quality education together
  • Proactively engage our communities in people-centred research in partnership with our research institute

5. Advance equity, inclusion and diversity and address racism to achieve better outcomes for patients, families, providers and staff 

Creating a culture of inclusion is a priority at KHSC. It involves recognizing the importance of diversity and equity in the workplace and ensuring an environment where all people are welcome to express their identities and have their voices heard. 

inclusion at KHSC logo
To achieve this strategic direction we will:
  • Create an inclusive environment for patients, families and everyone who works, learns and volunteers at KHSC

KHSC is on a journey to address the gaps and needs toward achieving the overall goal of Inclusion, which inherently involves improving diversity, equity, access to opportunities, acknowledgement, recognition, and celebration of our people, regardless of who they are or where they are coming from.  To further these initiatives and create a sense of safety and belonging for KHSC staff, patients, families and everyone who works, learns and volunteers.

By 2027
  • KHSC offers a culturally safe care environment that values and respects diversity
In 2024-2025 together with our patients, families and partners we will:
  • Implement our plan to improve culturally safe care for Francophone and Indigenous populations
  • Implement our integrated inclusion framework