Guelph General scored second best in the country in a key safety indicator that measures actual deaths in acute care hospitals versus expected deaths

Guelph General Hospital (GGH) has scored second best in the country in a measurement of how many deaths are expected in an acute care facility versus the number of actual deaths, a big improvement over previous years.

A recent report of hospitals across Canada drafted by the Canadian Institute for Health Information gave GGH the second best score in the country for its Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio (HSMR) for 2017-18.

That key safety indicator measures actual deaths in acute care hospitals versus expected deaths.

GGH scored a 67, which was the second lowest score in the country. Both the national and provincial average score for the HSMR in 2017-18 was 89.

In 2015-16, the hospital scored an 89 in the same metric, a change of 22 people per 100.

Over the past two years, GGH has identified a number of projects to help promote safety such as falls reduction, medication safety and patient identification, said Marianne Walker, president and CEO of Guelph General Hospital (GGH) in a press release.

“Our staff and physicians are committed to providing the highest quality care and experience for patients and their families. Patient safety is deeply engrained in all we do,” said Walker.

In 2017-18, GGH accommodated 62,383 emergency department visits and 14,103 acute care hospital stays. The average length of a hospital stay during those two years was 4.6 days.

Walker said safety is now a part of the hospital’s routine.

“We are highly focused on understanding the day-to-day challenges of our front line staff which impacts the care they are able to provide,” says Walker. “Our implementation of daily huddles in our clinical areas provides staff with the opportunity to identify safety issues and concerns and to share learnings with their teams. These learnings are then shared broadly with other clinical teams at a daily leadership huddle.”

The HSMR is just one measurement in Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) annual report which provides essential information on Canada’s health systems and the health of Canadians.