Strategic Plan Part 2: Our Strategic Directions

Talking About Our RVHS Strategic Plan 2015-18 

Blog Series — Part 2: Our Strategic Directions  

By Andrée Robichaud, President and CEO, RVHS

Having launched our new Strategic Plan 2015-18 on June 23, we have proudly announced the kind of community hospital that we aspire to be in our new Vision Statement: Together—the best at what we do. 

As our Board Chair Fred Clifford said in his introductory blog in this series, this vision means that we will be the best at what we do:  

• Together — With our patients and families to best meet their needs;

• Together — As a system working with other healthcare providers, local partners and government to deliver services for patients and their families;

• Together — As a team of staff, doctors, and volunteers.

This is who we are committing ourselves to be. The question is how will we achieve this? Our Strategic Plan spells this out in three Strategic Directions: 

1) Innovators of a quality patient experience; 

2) Champions of a connected health system for patients; and 

3) Workplace of choice. 

Here is what we have committed to in our Strategic Directions, as presented in the new Strategic Plan.  

• Innovators of a quality patient experience: As the provider of choice, we will consistently offer exceptional quality services that exceed the expectations of patients, families and our communities through innovative practices and technological solutions. Across the country, Rouge Valley Health System will be known for innovation, collaboration and professional care.
• Champions of a connected health system for patients: We will ensure that the patient’s perspective drives a more unified journey of care — a true system that is easier for patients and families to navigate. As a trusted partner, we will work with other hospitals and community providers toward development of a seamless system of care.
• Workplace of choice: We will promote innovation, excellence and continuous improvement throughout Rouge Valley Health System by attracting and keeping talented healthcare practitioners and professionals, administrative and support staff, and volunteers, who are focused on creating a positive patient and team experience. We will be recognized by our team, partners and community for creating a healthy, safe, respectful and diverse workplace that supports continuous learning and development of our people.

We will be Innovators of a quality patient experience

Rouge Valley is building on its hospital-wide philosophy of continuous improvement for our patients. Innovation is a fundamental element of this Strategic Direction. It is a matter of looking at the journey of patients coming to receive care and their families, and finding ways to change key points of their journey that can positively impact their experience with us. This includes what services we offer and how we deliver them, including at all touch points such as registration, reducing wait times, and their stay at the hospital, right through to discharge.

With this first Strategic Direction, we will be reframing how we go about innovation by increasingly bringing our patients and families to the table to discuss and come up with new ideas and solutions together. Their engagement and participation in their healthcare will be key to deciding how to change our processes, improve delivery of care, and improve our hospital environment in order to achieve the best quality patient experience. 

We will be Champions of a connected health system for patients

We know that our patients’ health and healthcare go beyond Rouge Valley. We are part of a larger system of other providers, funders and decision-makers. We understand that it will take all of us working together to ensure the best experience for patients. That is why we want to be more than role players within the health system; we will be “Champions,” promoting increased connectivity and partnership to make service delivery better and simpler for patients. We will be looking at how our services can best tie into related care provided by other organizations in our communities, and what opportunities there are for collaboration to make it easier for patients to get the care they need. 

We will be a Workplace of choice

Our workforce team will be one of the keys to the success of our Strategic Plan during the next three years. We will be a workplace where expert, caring and compassionate healthcare practitioners and professionals, administrative and support staff, and volunteers want to come to share their talents together as a team. In addition to our processes to attract and keep the best, we will also focus on how we shape our hospital spaces and culture. 

We will become the hospital that everyone would choose to work at. We strongly believe that continuing to improve our team environment for staff, physicians and volunteers will improve patient care. And that’s what it’s all about. 

Next steps

During the next few months, our focus will be on setting the groundwork for the implementation of the Strategic Plan. We will do this by first defining a set of very specific strategic goals for each of our three Strategic Directions. This will include goals such as: 

• Innovators of a quality patient experience — Offering exceptional quality services to patients while applying The Rouge Valley Way of caring in each of our day-to-day actions, empowering patients and families to best meet their needs – together; 
• Champions of a connected health system for patients — Reviewing our model of care for complex continuing care and rehabilitation. Reviewing how we deliver these services, and developing our role with the regional palliative care program. (Our Community Advisory Group’s recent Report on End-of-Life Care Patient/Family Experience provided valuable patient and family insights on this subject);
• Workplace of choice — Expanding our teaching affiliation agreements with current academic partners and new ones, while providing the best quality environment within our hospital.

We will use these goals to build departmental work plans that will outline how our Strategic Plan will be operationalized across all areas of the hospital.

This summer and fall will continue to be an exciting time for us as we roll out the new Strategic Plan. We will continue to keep our community and stakeholders informed on our progress as we go forward.

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Download a copy of Rouge Valley’s new Strategic Plan 2015-18. To learn more about the strategic planning process that led to the new plan, please visit www.rougevalley.ca/strategic-plan.