In 2017, Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) was created by bringing together Kingston General and Hotel Dieu hospitals. In 2019, we then launched our inaugural strategy for Transforming care, together.
As one hospital with one strategy, one team and one budget, we had new and better opportunities to deliver care where, and how, it is needed most. All with the goal of transforming the patient experience and improving the health of people across our region and beyond. Our strategy has helped us seize these opportunities as we care for patients, families and each other through everyday actions, significant moments, and exciting breakthroughs.
2024 marks the final year of our strategy. Over the last five years, we have accomplished a great deal toward the goals in our strategic plan. During this time, we also faced challenges as we were called to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which diverted the organization's focus away from many strategic initiatives. The pandemic also challenged us to respond and grow in ways we had not previously imagined as we stepped up to help regions across Ontario, developing new capacity and shining as a leader, and a trusted team player in the delivery of complex, acute and highly specialized health care to people across the province.
Looking ahead, we are shifting our focus from the pandemic to several significant initiatives. These include Phase 2 Redevelopment, Lumeo—Health Information System, and collaboration with the Frontenac, Lennox, and Addington Ontario Health Team. Continued collaboration and focus on these exciting priorities are crucial to our success.
For these reasons, we have decided to extend our current strategic plan for an additional three years. This will allow us to keep focused and finish delivering the many important strategic initiatives already underway, including digital transformation through the regional Lumeo Health Information System implementation, and the physical transformation of our aging spaces through hospital redevelopment projects, while still continuing to address our health human resource, financial and operational pressures.
Most important, our vision, mission and values 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.
Adapting to changes in our environment
As we extended our strategic plan, we asked our KHSC community to consider important changes in our environment to which our strategy must respond.
Here’s what we discussed:
Today’s patients are getting older and sicker
People are living with more complex conditions. Their care often comes from multiple providers in different settings. Unlike in more urban regions of Ontario, the more than 500,000 members of our regional community are spread out over a large geographic and mostly rural area, which can make access to care challenging.
To improve the health of our communities, we must partner in new ways with health and social service providers to build strong partnerships that focus on quality and innovation. This will ensure that the patient journey, through our regional health-care system, feels as smooth and supportive as possible.
We know that many of our patients do not travel outside of the East Region for care. As a top research and teaching facility brimming with inquisitive minds, we have the capacity to take a close look at our unique health demographics and identify long-term solutions to address the health issues we see in our communities. Our large rural population also forces us to think creatively about partnering with other providers to make care more widely available, and how to make it easier to access that care.
The health-care system is rapidly transforming
Through the development of Ontario Health Teams (OHTs), all health-care providers will one-day work together to offer integrated, team-based care that delivers better outcomes for the people we serve, at the most reasonable cost. The Frontenac Lennox and Addington OHT (FLA OHT), of which KHSC is a founding partner, has been singled out as one of only 12 (out of more than 50 plus) in the province whose leadership and high performance has positioned them for accelerated development.
KHSC is a key partner in many OHT initiatives such as the development of chronic disease pathways and the leading home care project that will create a more advanced home-care model based on the work already underway with our Transitional Care Unit and KHSC@Home program.
KHSC will continue to be an active participant in health system transformation and the initiatives of the FLA OHT to maintain our leadership and position the organization well for the care delivery, performance management and funding models of the future.
People-centred care is more important than ever
Patients’ desire to participate in their own, or in their loved ones’ care is stronger than ever. People are more vocal when their needs are not being met and they expect to be engaged in all facets of their health care journey, the options available to them, and the very design of the health-care system. Patients expect to be treated as individuals, holistically and inclusively in respect of their full diversity.
With people-centred care at the core of our mission, we will continue to be guided by the voices of all the people whom we serve as we continue on our journey to transform care, together.
The pandemic challenged us to grow, innovate and enhance our capacity
The ways in which we responded to the pandemic and stepped up to help regions across the province has allowed KHSC to develop new capacity and shine as a leader and a trusted team player in the delivery of complex, acute and highly specialized health care. KHSC has emerged as a safety net for the province and has kept care accessible during times of exceptional stress as we did during the pandemic and in recent pediatric patient surges. Today, we are leveraging KHSC's enhanced capacity, growth, and overall importance to the health-care system to build community awareness, understanding and support for investing in our future.
We are grappling with unprecedented challenges
Like all Ontario hospitals, we are trying to deliver excellent care to growing volumes of increasingly complex patients. We’re doing it with fewer resources, inside aging facilities and within a dis-integrated system, all while competing to hire people to deliver care during a global shortage of health -care workers.
The current system is simply unsustainable. We need to quickly start moving in a different direction, which means we must remain focused on the initiatives that are critical to enabling a major shift: redevelopment, digital and health system transformation, integrated care pathways, along with innovations in care like genomics, imaging and robotics, all while positioning KHSC as a great place to work, in order to create a different, more sustainable future for KHSC and the communities we serve.
We can't solve these challenges alone. We will continue to work with our Ministry and local communities on new facilities, while at the same time working with our health system partners to change the ways health care is delivered and funded.
Education and research are part of the fabric of KHSC
Health-care education in Ontario is rapidly expanding and transforming to meet the growing demand for health- care workers, while ensuring we prepare the health-care workforce of tomorrow. At the same time, it remains vitally important that we keep doing the kind of transformational, ground-breaking research that will transform peoples' lives.
As an academic health-sciences, teaching and research hospital, KHSC is positioning itself for provincial investment in health education and research to maintain and grow our position at the leading edge of care, cultivate our future workforce and be a destination where students, researchers and staff are inspired to learn, discover, and grow.
Our strategy positions us for a bold future where a steady focus on quality, innovation and partnership helps us to transform our regional health-care system.
Our mission, vision and values
Our mission
Each care journey can be defined by a series of actions, moments or breakthroughs.
Everyday actions are all about the little things we do to make a difference, like stopping to provide directions in the hallway or taking the time to provide words of support to a worried family. Significant moments are hard to forget – here, that can mean receiving a new diagnosis, welcoming a new baby into your family, or walking on your own for the first time after a hip replacement. Exciting breakthroughs can be life-changing events or being on the team that performed the first surgery of its kind in Canada. The impact of these advances can ripple through entire communities, in southeastern Ontario and beyond. At KHSC, it’s our mission to support our patients, families and each other throughout everyone’s individual and unique journey.
Our vision
KHSC aims to play a role in transforming our health care system. We can’t do this alone. Strengthening our partnerships, developing a robust quality roadmap, embracing innovation, making groundbreaking discoveries in research, and training the care providers of tomorrow will all contribute to improving the health of the communities and region we serve. With our collective expertise, we can serve as a model for health system transformation.
Our values
At the heart of our values is compassion. We care for some of the sickest and most vulnerable people in our communities. We treat each person with respect and dignity. We do this by caring for the whole person, when and where they need it most. Partnership is at the core of how we work. We empower patients, families and our teams to do great work together, and with our communities. The pursuit of excellence drives everything we do. We will be good stewards of resources while continually enhancing the quality of care, research and education we provide. Research and innovation reflect our courage to try new things, challenge what we know, create new knowledge and transform health care.
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.
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.
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:
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Develop a framework and strategy for enhancing Psychological Health & Safety in the workplace.
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Continue to cross-train staff across clinical areas.
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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.
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.
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
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