From the desk of Dr. Michael Gardam, Health PEI CEO
Hi everyone,
As our population needs and health care services change, we constantly need to re-evaluate and redefine how our facilities can best serve the public and staff who work in them.
Recently, Health PEI leaders began the very early stages of planning with consultants RPG toward the development of a Master Program and Master Plan for the new Kings County Memorial Hospital and the ongoing redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Both hospitals provide vital care for Islanders and must be planned and designed with the future of health care on PEI in mind. Briefly stated, we know demands for health care services will continue to grow as the population grows, and as a health system we need to define what these hospitals require to better serve the public five, 10 and 20 years in the future.
Some of you will remember going through this process with the QEH in 2005, which resulted in some significant improvements to the hospital such as the new Emergency and Ambulatory Care Departments, enlarged SPD and Laundry facilities, new Eye Surgery Clinic, and expanded and enhanced Day Surgery Clinic and Recovery areas.
Over the next several months, the consultants and the internal Health PEI planning team will be connecting with areas across the health system to consult with staff about the needs you have identified for these facilities. Engagement with staff and the public will be a key priority for these projects to succeed and there will be several opportunities to provide input.
The first opportunity is a functional evaluation survey that will go to identified managers at QEH and KCMH this week, soliciting information about the facility needs for their areas. While managers will be completing these surveys themselves, they will be consulting with staff in these areas for their insights to include in the plan.
Following this survey, consultants will complete a functional evaluation tour of each hospital. Then, in June, they will host a series of meetings with administrative and clinical leadership representatives in each facility to further engage and consult on the future of programs, services and facility needs.
The executive steering committee, which includes executive leaders and facility leadership, will meet with consultants as these sessions unfold.
Once the most technical aspects of functional evaluation are complete, we will be providing opportunities for further feedback from staff and our communities and stakeholders.
These are two very important projects which will only succeed with full participation from staff in consultations.
As the people who work with clients and patients most closely and as experts in health care delivery, the insight you provide to the project team will help ensure KCMH and QEH are designed to be the best possible resources to Prince Edward Island now and well into the future.
We will keep staff informed as this process unfolds over the next several months.
Thanks,
Michael
Please send questions, comments, or submissions for these notes to emclean@gov.pe.ca, subject line “Notes for Michael”.