Sault Area Hospital President and CEO Ron Gagnon answers questions about changes to the hospital’s Quality Improvement Plan after Monday’s hospital board meeting.

Action was taken at Monday’s Sault Area Hospital board meeting related to the hospital’s Quality Improvement Plan. The targets for employee experience and patient experience rated excellent were lowered to 61 and 47 percent respectively, but the decision to approve was not a unanimous one. Hospital President and CEO Ron Gagnon says the targets for this year are still achievable…

Gagnon adds that there is no fear of staff failing to meet those targets even if they are lower. The ultimate goal is for SAH to be in the best quartile of Ontario hospitals — the Sault Area Hospital is currently is the upper half of hospitals in the province. Some members of the hospital board expressed concern about the move prior to the decision to approve. Board member Jim Boniferro said ‘Don’t let being good get in the way of being great’. But Gagnon says he wouldn’t change the recommendation to lower satisfaction targets…

A concern from another board member was brought up regarding making questions for physicians more clear in gauging their response. Gagnon answered that this was a question best suited for physician response about going to work. He added that feedback from questions like this would be left with their vendor for it to make any further decision on the issue. Gagnon says a goal of 66 percent of total experiences as excellent for 2017-18 can still be achieved, even if that figure changes over that two year period. The achievement targets for this year will be seen sometime in June 2016.