Health Minister, Don McMorris, Sunrise Regional Health Authority Chairperson, Greg Kobylka and Suann Laurent, CEO for Sunrise Health Region joined government and health region representatives in a recent tour of quality improvement initiatives implemented in the Sunrise Health Region.
The group toured Yorkton Regional Health Centre surgical floor and Yorkton & District Nursing Home where health care providers are leading improvements in patient and resident care using Lean methodologies. Staff members at St. Paul Lutheran Home in Melville and on the medicine floor of Yorkton Regional Health Centre use Releasing Time to Care to increase direct patient and resident care time.
Releasing Time to Care has four core objectives including improving patient safety and care, improving patient experience, improving staff well-being and improving the efficiency of care. This initiative helps nurses and other care providers to change work processes so they spend less time on administrative tasks or retrieving medical supplies. During the Minister's visit, the Yorkton Regional Health Centre medicine floor and St. Paul Lutheran Home initiatives were viewed. St. Paul is one of the first long-term care facilities in the world to test the effectiveness of the Releasing Time to Care in a long-term care setting.
"Releasing Time to Care has been a great tool to improve acute care in Saskatchewan and is now being applied in long-term care," says McMorris. "I am encouraged by the excellent work being done in Sunrise Health Region and have seen impressive evidence of health care providers in the region leading change to improve the patient experience."
Lean is a patient-first approach that maps out the current and future state of health service delivery with patients and families needs at the centre. Lean is unique in engaging and empowering health care providers to identify concerns and generate solutions to enhance patient and resident experience and outcomes. It is the goal of the health region to familiarize its health care providers with Lean methodology and for staff to apply Lean to move forward their ideas for ongoing improvement. The tour included the Lean initiatives currently in progress in the Yorkton and District Nursing Home and on the surgical floor of the Yorkton Regional Health Centre.
"I am extremely proud of the work that has gone into implementing the Lean and Releasing Time to Care initiatives in the Sunrise Health Region," adds Laurent. "The staff members are incredibly dedicated to these initiatives and their dedication to front line leadership will enhance our services in ways that residents and families truly value."
The Lean and Releasing Time to Care initiatives are continuing to evolve, with future plans to expand into other facilities and departments throughout the Sunrise Health Region.
