This is our chance to share with you some of the success stories from our latest quarterly report against our long-term strategy and annual corporate performance goals.

Our third quarter ended December 31, 2011, and I'm pleased to report that 74 per cent of our milestone targets are on track.

As we head into the close of this fiscal year, we are able to more clearly project what our year-end results will be. Looking forward, we anticipate at least 80 per cent of our milestones will be fully achieved by the close of the fiscal year. We remain confident that some of the milestones that are marked “red” this quarter will convert to “green” by year end as a result of the focused efforts underway to address them. For others, such as our emergency department wait times, we set stretch targets at the beginning of the year that we know will take more time to achieve, so in spite of good progress, we will not hit some of our performance targets.

One of the areas I am most proud of is the steady progress on hand washing compliance which is now approaching 92 per cent across the organization. Many hospitals continue to struggle with this one, but at KGH, people in every clinical area and every category of staff have taken ownership of the fact that washing your hands at KGH is simply what is expected, and what is done for every patient, every day.

The area we continue to struggle with the most is the reduction of waiting times for admitted patients from the emergency department. While we have made substantial progress over the past three quarters, we have not yet reached the standard that our teams and our patients expect. I am confident, however, that the right things are happening inside the organization and with our partners and that we will see more progress in the coming months.

Our Patient and Family Advisory Council and Patient Experience Advisors are getting a lot of attention from outside organizations. After being cited as a “best practice” in the provincial report on quality improvement plans, people are looking to us as an example to follow.

Looking forward, we are in the process of finalizing our goals and performance targets for the upcoming year for our Quality Improvement Plan and our annual corporate plan. We will be sharing these with you shortly.

To learn more, visit our website (www.kgh.on.ca) where you will find more information in the latest KGH This Quarter and our KGH Master Performance Report and send us any questions or comments you have.

Stay tuned, KGH is on the move!