Transformation and modernization: Vitalité Health Network shares its vision of the future of health care
Bathurst, October 27, 2015 – This afternoon Vitalité Health Network provided a comprehensive overview of its vision of how health care could be transformed and modernized to improve service quality, appropriateness and accessibility.
Transforming and Modernizing the Health Care System
According to President and Chief Executive Officer Gilles Lanteigne, residents of the province expect their health care system to contribute to improving the population’s health, to deliver services that meet their needs, and to be managed in a sustainable manner for future generations. “As a province, we are less performing than the national average on these three aspects,” he said. “This is why we must transform and modernize the health care system.”
The Network’s Vision
The Network would like to change its service and care delivery model. “We must do things differently while maintaining a client-centred approach,” said Gilles Lanteigne. The planned changes would make it possible to
- improve service quality and accessibility,
- better meet the public’s changing needs, and
- ensure the clinical and financial viability of services.
The key element of the new model recommended consists in making the shift to primary health care services, with major emphasis on ambulatory and community care, as well as home care services.
Main Lines of Action
1 – Better resource utilization
The Network plans on offering “alternatives to hospitalization”; in other words, improving access and increasing service delivery to the public to avoid hospitalizations as much as possible or reduce length of stay. In order to do this the Network is planning on maximizing Extra-Mural Program services, creating a “virtual hospital,” and improving home care, ambulatory care, and community services.
The Network must “better manage acute care beds” in a context where almost 24% of beds are occupied by seniors awaiting placement in a nursing home. The Network proposes close collaboration between the Department of Health, the Department of Social Development, and nursing homes to reduce the number of seniors in hospitals. Measures can be taken to better coordinate interventions in the hospital setting to facilitate patient discharge, thus reducing length of stay. These measures would make it possible to reduce the number and length of stays, creating an environment where hospital facilities would not need as many acute care beds. According to the analyses made by the Network, these “preventable hospitalizations” would help to reduce the number of acute care beds by 20 in the Beauséjour Zone, 26 in the Northwest Zone, 12 in the Restigouche Zone, and 41 in the Acadie-Bathurst Zone. “With the development of community services, ambulatory care services, and an improved range of home care services, people would have better access to the care they need,” said Gilles Lanteigne.
In the short- and medium-term the Network plans on “maintaining existing emergency services.” Given that almost 64% of visits to the emergency are non-urgent, the Network is planning on continuing to analyze the emergency department operations to be more effective, as well as measure the impact of alternatives to hospitalization.
2 – Improving clinical practices
The Network’s vision recommends that care delivery modes be re-examined in the light of new knowledge and that traditional approaches be questioned in order to continue to improve.
3- Improving operational efficiency
Significant operational efficiency could be achieved with the implementation or increased use of new technologies, such as telehealth optimization and deployment of a transcription and voice recognition system for health professionals.
Next Steps
According to the President and Chief Executive Officer, once the Network’s plan will have received approval from the Department of Health, much will remain to be done for the initiatives to take shape and be implemented. “We will also continue working in collaboration with our community partners and clinical teams,” said Gilles Lanteigne. “Solutions proposed must meet the needs of local communities.” The implementation of the initiatives should take 12 to 18 months from the time the plan is approved.
