Happy Holidays from KGH

The holiday season is here again and on behalf of the KGH Board of Directors and everyone who works, learns and volunteers at our hospital, we are delighted to extend to you our warmest wishes.

As another year draws to a close, we have been reflecting on what we have accomplished together over the past 12 months. As always, our focus has been on transforming the patient experience through a relentless focus on quality, safety and service and we made plenty of progress worth highlighting.

Early in the year, one of our most important goals was to improve patient flow and end the Gridlock we were regularly experiencing. We accomplished this by studying and then improving many of our processes, from how we clean rooms to how we discharge patients. As a result of all this work, the time it takes to be admitted to a bed from our Emergency Department has been dramatically improved.

Another big and visible change this year was the arrival of our colourful new wayfinding system. It is specially designed to help people navigate the many buildings and halls of our historic hospital with bold colours and new wing names and symbols.

We are also helping our patients navigate their care journey with a powerful new online tool – this brand new website. It was created with the help of patients and families every step of the way to ensure a user-friendly design that gives them the information they need quickly and helps them have the best possible experience with our hospital.

With the generous support of the KGH Auxiliary, we were able to purchase hundreds of new state-of-the-art patient care beds. At the same time, the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation (UHKF) completed its $6 million fundraising campaign that will bring a second MRI machine to KGH.

In November, we took the bold step of going smoke-free for the first time by removing the smoking shelters on our property and stepping up our smoking cessation supports for patients and staff.

While pressing ahead with these improvements, we also came together to celebrate the completion of our KGH 2015 Strategy. To mark this milestone, we created a special Five-Year Strategy Report. It draws on highlights of our performance over the past five years and feedback from the Team Talks we held across the hospital where our staff let us know about the things they were most proud of. The report also looks forward to some of the opportunities and challenges we are ready to tackle next.

As for the future, people from all over our hospital will be busy this coming year providing their input and expertise to the Health Care Tomorrow - Hospital Services project as it steps up its efforts find new ways for hospitals in our region to come together to improve access to care and use our precious resources more efficiently.

Here at KGH we will be starting the new year with a new CEO, with Jim Flett taking on the job on an interim basis. As Chief Operating Officer, Jim has played a key role in KGH’s transformation over the past seven years. We look forward to the leadership he will bring to KGH as CEO during this time of transition. 

As we continue to strive to achieve our aim of Outstanding Care, Always, we look forward to what 2016 will bring and wish you, your family and friends all the very best of the holiday season.

Leslee Thompson, President & Chief Executive Officer

Scott Carson, Chair, KGH Board of Directors