Patients and clients from across the province shared their experiences of the care and service provided by Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) in 2017-18, and the results are in! Overall, 88.4 per cent of survey respondents rated their experience of care positively. This result is 1.1 per cent lower than the 2016-17 rating. Areas surveyed in 2017-18 were mental health and addictions, primary health care, long-term care, cancer care, inpatient (hospital) care and outpatient services.
On behalf of the Selection Committee of the NSHA Board, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation for your participation in the consultation and survey process to inform our approach to selection of the NSHA’s next Chief Executive Officer.
A project to pave the parking lot at Hants Community Hospital will get underway soon. The work will be done in phases over a period of eight to 10 weeks.
At any given time, the Division of Nephrology is involved in half a dozen clinical trials to test and/or validate new approaches to managing the many issues that arise with dialysis and kidney disease.
Patients and visitors are being asked to use South Shore Regional Hospital’s new elevator during upgrades to the two original elevators. Work on the elevators will begin May 21 and is expected to take six months. Once the upgrades are done, the public will continue to use the new elevator, while the others remain designated as service elevators for moving patients and supplies within the hospital, which is an important Accreditation Canada standard.
When patients are in hospital, it’s important to mitigate their risk of exposure to a hospital acquired infection during their stay. Eileen McIntyre, an infection prevention and control professional in Cape Breton, understands the immense work this takes.
Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) welcomes members of the public to attend its board of directors meeting Wednesday, May 22 in Liverpool. The meeting starts at 8:25 a.m. in the Brooklyn and Medway Rooms at the Best Western Plus Liverpool Hotel and Conference Centre on Queens Place Drive. As promised at NSHA’s annual general meeting last summer, the board of directors will hold regular meetings at least six times each fiscal year, with four of those to include public sessions, as part of NSHA’s commitment to accountability and transparency.
At the QEII on an average day there are: 950 inpatients, 4,000 clinic visits, 270 cancer treatments, 130 surgeries, 200 ER visits. That’s over one million visits every year.
For registered nurse Nancy Fitzgerald and her fellow health protection team members, working in Public Health is about much more than giving patients their shots. “It’s so much more than just a needle,” the Elmsdale resident said. “It’s helping empower (patients) to do something that’s hard for them; to learn some coping strategies if they have any anxiety or needle phobias.” Whether it’s helping people get over their fear of needles or educating them about the importance of immunization, Fitzgerald loves “working with a variety of people” on the Public Health front lines.
Power outages are part of life in Canada. We know what they are like and, most times, we're prepared with extra candles and flashlights. But what happens when the power is completely out at a hospital? What impact does that have on patients, families, staff, physicians or anyone else in the hospital at the time?
