"I love it when a good plan comes together."
Actor George Peppard made that sentence a big part of his on-screen personality in a 1980s television series and I'm going to borrow it today.
Now, I'm not George, and I don't smoke the big stogies he enjoyed so much, but I do appreciate the sentiment he expressed. Sun Country Health Region (SCHR) has a draft strategic plan for the next three years and we're quite excited about it.
A strategic plan gives direction to an organization and sets its priorities. It helps us to focus on the kinds of things we need to do over the next few years to provide better health care to our patients/residents/clients.
The Accreditation Canada team here at the first of May said our plan tells them SCHR is "an organization going places and doing the right things."
Our plan is aligned with the priorities of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health. All health regions in the province are attuned to the strategic operational plans established by the Ministry and are headed in the same direction. We are trying to transform the system to work together, for our patients first.
In our case, about 80 per cent of our strategic plan mirrors the provincial plan and ministry's plan and 20 per cent is intended to address identified local needs.
Our plan is very similar to and builds on the plan created in 2007 after much consultation with our staff and the public.
It has five themes or goals: to improve the health outcomes of individuals, to improve the health of the population at large, to provide a safe, effective and high-performing work force, and to do all these things in a manner that allows the organization to be sustainable over the long term.
Each of these goals is supported by specific initiatives that will make it possible to reach the goals in a measurable time frame with measurable results.
For instance, the goal of improving the health of the individual is supported by the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative that will see, by March 31, 2014, all patients requiring surgery to be offered a date within 90 days.
We have begun to implement this initiative already in our Region. This year, we will perform more surgeries at Weyburn General Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital of Estevan and will provide more home care and therapy sessions to those released after surgery in Regina and Saskatoon.
For another instance, the goal of improving the health of the population as a whole is supported by the Falls Initiative, which will reduce the number of residents in our long term care facilities and communities who experience a fall. Imagine reducing the number of fractures, especially hips, and the pain and suffering, potential admission to long term care, and death, that often results.
The construction of three new facilities, in Radville, Redvers and Kipling are initiatives that will contribute to the sustainability of the organization over the long term and improve the environment for those to whom we provide services, and for our staff.
There is more to our plan. You can find it at http://www.suncountry.sk.ca/general/32/strategic-planning.html
