Report: Serious work needed to improve Lakeridge patient experience

By Joel Wittnebel
The Oshawa Express

Breakdowns in communication, sour attitudes and a focus on finances and efficiency over patient care have triggered a call for a “culture change” inside Lakeridge Health Oshawa.
In a report released by the Patient Experience Panel, commissioned by Lakeridge in March to look into what patients experienced in the hospital’s emergency department as well as the organization’s complaint process and social media practises, it is noted a lot of work is needed to improve how patients are treated at the hospital.
“In its strategic plan, LH (Lakeridge Health) says it wants to be ‘recognized nationally as a leader in delivering the best patient and family experience.’ Based on what the Panel saw in the culture of the LHO ER, they have a very long way to go,” the report reads.
Of concern to the panellists was an attitude in the ER that concerns around budget constraints and staffers’ ability to do their jobs efficiently were being put ahead of maximizing patient satisfaction.
It was also found patients were hesitant to come forward with complaints due to fear of being labelled as “problem patients,” with many lacking the basic knowledge of the complaint process because the details were scarce on the hospital’s website.
When complaints were received, the process by which they were dealt with was not effective, the report notes.
“Most complaints involved a breakdown in communications, a perceived lack of courtesy, or poor attitude by staff,” the report reads
A series of recommendations are listed in the report, several of which are already underway, that will help “to develop a comprehensive patient-centred culture.”
For Tom McHugh, the interim president and CEO of Lakeridge Health, the recommendations in the report will have “traction” within the organization.
“I think that the way they’ve worked with us makes us part of the solution and I think it invests people in Lakeridge in the solution,” he says.
And while adding that none of the recommendations or findings in the report were a surprise to him, he acknowledges that the needed changes are going to take some time to implement.
“It’s not an easy fix. Culture change takes a long time,” McHugh says.
“But, I think we have lined up a number of things that are going to click into place and we are going to be able to create the platform for that change and I think we’ve already started.”
A complicating factor may come in the form of the widespread instances pointed out in the report of “gaps in the skills and knowledge of leaders” at Lakeridge, noting that many staff members noted a lack of leadership within the organization.
“The panel was made aware of concerns voiced by ED staff and physicians about the need for more support from the rest of the organization,” the report reads.
“There was felt a lack of role modelling and visibility from those in leadership positions in the ED as well as insufficient sharing of information concerning patient issues.”
For McHugh, he says the recommendations in the report are being applied across the hospital to address the concerns.
“We are all combing through this for recommendations that we can generalize beyond emerg. I see this really shaping the next couple of years,” he says.
Among the recommendations are measures to make the complaint process more transparent by creating a system to measure patient issues by tracking the percentage of complaints turned around within the hospital’s established target time, the average number of days from complaint to close, the volume and type of complaints, and the rate of complaints per 1,000 patient days or visits.
The report also suggests the formation of policies to deal with patient interactions via social media. It is something the hospital is currently lacking and stems back to the cause of the panel review when Oshawa mother Kathryn McKissock, upset with her daughter’s treatment at Lakeridge, started a Facebook group that quickly went viral with stories around treatment at the hospital.
McHugh says the organization will be looking at all 24 recommendations, but listing how many will be implemented would be hard to say this early in the process.
“We have a commitment to look at all of them. It would be hard to put a number on it,” he says.
Already underway, a working group is in the process of developing an implementation plan for the report’s recommendations.
“We’ve given a clear signal as an organization that in the next five years, we’re going to be one of the best in Canada,” McHugh says.