KGH wins national ‘passion’ award

Cited as patient- and family-centred care role model for hospitals around the world

Kingston General Hospital (KGH) is one of 10 Canadian organizations to be honoured as 2014 Canada’s Passion Capitalists, a national award program celebrating organizations that have achieved long-term success by creating ‘passion capital’ – defined as the energy, intensity and sustainability to overcome adversity and achieve outstanding results.
 
The winners, announced November 20 live on Business News Network (BNN) include, among others: WestJet, Canadian Tire Corporation, Canada Goose and Sleep Country. In all, 40 entrants applied from across Canada including three other hospitals. KGH was the only hospital in Canada to win.  
“We are extremely proud to be named a national winner and to be among such an impressive group of fellow finalists whose passion and culture is so well-known to Canadians,” says Leslee Thompson, President and CEO of KGH. “This award is particularly special and close to our hearts because it recognizes the shared passion, purpose and dedication that drives each of us to transform the patient and family experience at Kingston General Hospital every day.”
 
To be eligible KGH had to demonstrate the seven principles of passion capital, as outlined in Paul Alofs’ book Passion Capital: The World’s Most Valuable Asset. Those principles are: a well-defined set of beliefs; a high-performance culture; the courage to take risks; a strong brand and reputation; masterful allocation of resources; a long-term strategy aligned with the brand; and persistence.
 
According to the national judging panel, what set KGH apart is its patient-centred culture, courage and overall transformation over the past five years. “The turnaround Kingston General Hospital has accomplished could not have been possible without Passion Capital,” says Paul Alofs, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and Author of Passion Capital, the book that inspired the awards program.
 
“The hospital engaged not only their employees, but patients and the entire community in establishing a new patient-centric creed, developing a new culture based on it, and embedding it in their operations in bold and innovative ways,” he says. “In doing so, KGH has transformed from a hospital with massive challenges to one of the best hospitals in Ontario, and is now a role model for hospitals around the world who are seeking to enhance the patient experience.”
 
Canada’s Passion Capitalists is presented by Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions and Richardson GMP, in partnership with BNN and Canadian Business magazine.
 
To view BNN’s announcement of KGH’s win, visit their Special Coverage web page and click on the Passion Capital Awards 2014, Part Four video. KGH’s win is also featured in the winter edition of Canadian Business magazine, now on newsstands.