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Patients & Visitors

Caring for Patients & Families

We are committed to providing high-quality health care and services to our patients, their families, visitors, and the community. All patients have the right to safe care, quality services, transparency, and privacy as outlined in our Patient’s Rights and Responsibilities.

Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct and Ethics (Code) sets forth the standards of conduct through which we will achieve the mission and vision of GDH.

GDH’s Compliance and Ethics Program promotes adherence to these standards, as well as to applicable laws and regulations and GDH’s policies and procedures. The Code supports a values-centric culture; sets expectations for individual accountability, transparency, integrity, and service excellence; and mandates a high standard for achieving clinical quality and patient safety.

Each individual must adhere to the standards of the Code and the requirements of the Compliance and Ethics Program in order to foster an environment of collaboration and accomplishment, to promote quality of care, and to preserve public trust and confidence in GDH. It is essential that any person in a supervisory, management, or executive position (Leader) diligently follow and promote the provisions of the Code and the Compliance and Ethics Program and maintain a work environment whereby individuals can comfortably ask questions or raise concerns.

QUALITY CARE & PATIENT RIGHTS

Standard of Conduct: We are committed to providing high-quality health care and services to our patients, their families, visitors, and the community. All patients have the right to safe care, quality services, transparency, and privacy as outlined in our Patient’s Rights and Responsibilities and Patient Declaration of Values.

GDH adheres to a zero tolerance policy for abuse and neglect pertaining to all staff and patients/residents.

 

For more information, please consult the Code of Conduct & Ethics manual.

Discharge Information

Your doctor will authorize your discharge from the hospital. Check your room thoroughly to make sure nothing is left behind.

 

Discharge | Transportation

Make sure you have arranged a ride to take you home as soon as you are released. If you have any concerns about your discharge, please discuss them with your doctor or the nurse on the unit. Questions regarding your medication should be directed to your physician.

Transfer for treatment | Surgery to other hospitals

In some situations, your doctor will have the nurse arrange that you be transferred by ambulance to another hospital if you require treatment and/or surgery which cannot be provided at GDH.

When being sent to an out-of-town hospital, you need to bring the following

  • Health Card (Ministry of Health)
  • Money and/or credit card
  • Travel clothing for trip home (coat, shoes, slacks, etc.)
  • Personal grooming items (toothbrush, comb, housecoat, slippers, etc.)
  • After your treatment/surgery is completed, you may no longer require hospitalization and will be discharged from the out-of-town hospital by your doctor. It is your responsibility to make travel arrangements home (car or bus).

Privacy & Confidentiality

Geraldton District Hospital is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality and security of all personal information to which it is entrusted in order to carry out its mission.

The Hospital Privacy Policy is governed by the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (Ontario). As a health information custodian, the Hospital and its affiliates (including staff, physicians, students, volunteers) are responsible and committed to adhering to these principles and ensuring that the personal health information of our patients is treated with respect and sensitivity.  All individuals with access to personal health information under the custody or control of the Hospital are responsible for supporting these strategies.

Privacy Officer

500 Hogarth Ave. W
Phone 807.854.1862 ext. 102

privacy.officer@geraldtondh.com

Links

Patients & Family Responsibilities

Geraldton District Hospital is committed to providing quality patient care. In order to achieve this commitment, the hospital identifies your rights and responsibilities as a patient:

Patients' Rights

  • You have the right to be treated in a respectful manner, considerate of each patient as a whole person, valuing the uniqueness of every individual.
  • You have a right to the privacy and confidentiality of your health information.
  • You have a right to receive relevant information and education concerning your condition, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, in a manner which is understandable to you.
  • You have a right to make decisions about the plan of care prior to and at any time during the course of treatment.
  • You have the right to a clean, comfortable, safe, and secure environment.
  • You have the right to be informed of any expenses that will be incurred by hospitalization.
  • You have the right to expect members of your health care team will communicate with one another in order to ensure coordination of care.
  • You have the right to express your concerns and to receive a response to your questions.
  • You have the right to know who your care providers are, and the doctor who is in charge of your treatment.
  • You have a right to refuse treatment in accordance with the law, and to be informed of the health risks and benefits of this decision.

Patients' Responsibilities

  • Provide accurate and complete information about your health to your hospital team members, to help them care for you.
  • Participate cooperatively in the mutually agreed upon plan of care, to the best of your ability.
  • Assist in the provision of your care by identifying one spokesperson, with whom the team can communicate, in the event you become incapable.
  • Tell the hospital team if there is a change in your condition, or if concerns arise during treatment.
  • Accept responsibility for the consequences of refusing treatment or medical advice.
  • Be courteous and respectful of other patients, visitors, and all members of your hospital team.
  • Recognize that the needs of other patients may sometimes be more urgent than your own.
  • Recognize that providers need not provide any treatment that they consider being medically or ethically inappropriate.
  • Respect hospital property and comply with hospital regulations and policies.
  • Make arrangements for discharge, when the physician determines that discharge is appropriate, or accept alternate level of care as appropriate.
  • Be responsible for all expenses not covered by OHIP or private insurance, during your hospitalization.

Horizons Hospice Care Suite

Hospice palliative care is aimed at relieving suffering and improving the quality of life for persons who are living with, or dying from, advanced illness.

 Palliative care is a special kind of health care for individuals and families who are living with a life-limiting illness that is usually at an advanced stage. The goal of palliative care is to provide comfort and dignity for the person living with the illness as well as the best quality of life for both this person and his or her family. A “family” is whoever the person says his or her family is. It may include relatives, partners and friends.

Objectives & Goals

An important objective of palliative care is relief of pain and other symptoms. Palliative care not only meets physical needs, but also meets psychological, social, cultural, emotional and spiritual needs of each person and family. Palliative care may be the main focus of care when a cure for the illness is no longer possible. Palliative care services help people in later life who are ill to live out their remaining time in comfort and dignity.

Quality hospice palliative care neither hastens death nor prolongs life. The goal of hospice palliative care is to improve the quality of life for patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illness. Palliative care services are helpful not only when a person is approaching death but also during the earlier stages of an illness.

The heart of palliative care is compassion. Geraldton District Hospital has a Palliative Care Room that is structured for the comfort of patients, their families and their friends. The room features a private bathroom, homelike décor and furnishings, a quiet location for the use of the patient, family and friends. Overnight accommodations include a pull-out couch and reclining chairs.

Become a Volunteer

Trained volunteers are part of the team, and help to enrich the patient’s quality of life. If you are interested in becoming a palliative care volunteer, you may go to the volunteer section of this website, download the application package, fill out the form and send it to Administration at the Hospital.

Patient & Family-Centered Care

As our population grows older and with more vulnerable patients comes an increasing challenge within the healthcare environment to care for them. Chronic disease management is indeed a challenge for all healthcare organizations. A person can present with multiple disease processes and how to care for them in a fiscally restrained system shows that we must integrate services and transform how we have been doing things in the past. This really speaks to transformation. We will embrace new partnerships to ensure we work together so that we accomplish our mission and priorities effectively and efficiently. In a Patient and Family Centered Care model, patients and their families will become partners in their care and will have a voice.

As we head into this new fiscal year at the hospital, we will be developing a new Strategic Plan. This plan will be embedded in a new model of care that the hospital will be embracing. It’s called ‘Patient and Family Centered Care’ or PFCC. This isn’t really a new model for us, as we have put the patient in the centre of care for years. However, with PFCC we will be expanding it to our volunteers and have Patient Family Advisors (PFA) on most of our Committee’s. These will be volunteers who will be a voice at the table representing how to better improve patient quality of care.

Patient Family Advisors (PFA) volunteers, who have experienced care at GDH, will be involved in discussions at the highest levels. They will be involved in Committees such as Quality Improvement, Strategic Planning, the Emergency Department Planning Committee, and Program Development. PFA’s will add balance and valuable perspectives as we move forward with our new Strategic Plan and goal setting.

Accreditation Canada implemented changes to enhance the focus on patient and family centered care. It is now evaluating healthcare service facilities against new requirements that ask organizations to partner with patients and families in planning, assessing and delivering their care. To include patient and family representatives on planning groups and monitor and evaluate services and quality.

We are committed to putting patients and families at the core of all we do—from clinical practice to day-to-day interactions—so they will experience, at every visit, the best and safest health care in a premier care setting.

Patient Family Advisors will have their own Committee that will hold meetings at regular intervals and will have a Terms of Reference to help guide them. As well, we will have a new Committee within the hospital, the PFCC Committee and this committee will have representation from staff, management and PFA volunteers, a well-rounded outlook at issues from all aspects, inclusive of patients.

We look forward to this new model that will enhance and improve quality of care for patients and their families.

 

Patient and Family-Centered Care Council

Terms of Reference

Purpose:

  • Align and integrate patient and family-centered care (PFCC) within the Geraldton District Hospital (GDH) through a change in hospital culture that puts the patient and their family at the centre of their care.
  • Work in partnership to create an environment that is inclusive and culturally-sensitive to all Indigenous people.

Responsibilities:

  • Create a sustainable system in which PFCC is embedded in all hospital functions.
  • Provide leadership, guidance and support to all hospital staff throughout the implementation of PFCC.
  • Develop and monitor performance indicators, including patient and staff satisfaction.
  • Review metric results and implement action plans to track progress.
  • Continue to evolve and implement best practice PFCC strategies.
  • Work closely with the Patient Family Advisor Council (PFAC) to ensure that their voice is heard throughout the hospital.
  • Encourage collaboration between families and providers of patient care.
  • Strengthen communication between patients, families, leadership and staff within the Greenstone area.
  • Educate itself on existing Indigenous services within the Greenstone area.
  • Offer effective solutions to patient and family concerns.
  • Provide education and training that fosters an increased understanding of PFCC values and cultural understanding throughout the organization and community.
  • Provide input for programs to meet patient and family needs.
  • Provide recommendations on operational issues that affect patients and families.

Goals:

  • The Chair will provide direction and support to the council, assist with recruitment of team members.
  • Schedule meetings and develop agendas.
  • Contribute knowledge as an equal member.
  • Monitor performance and initiate corrective action, as necessary.
  • Keep the Board of Directors informed of the progress of PFCC.
  • Act as a liaison between project teams and other committees.
  • Encourage and support patients and families to participate in their care and decision-making at the level they choose.
  • Collaborate with patients and families through inclusion to hospital committees, where they will act as advisors and participate in discussions.
  • Engage patients and families in partnerships involving healthcare services.
  • Involve patients and families in policy and procedure decisions at GDH.
  • The elders will lead in prayer and blessings and provide support and guidance on knowledge of traditional teachings and culture.

The Patient and Family-Centered Care Council are responsible for regular updates on PFCC progress to hospital leadership. The Council will provide updates on new initiatives and practices as they plan to become implemented.

Membership:

The Patient and Family-Centered Care Council will have representation from:

  • PFCC Lead
  • Senior Management
  • Nursing Management
  • Quality Improvement/Decision Support
  • Nursing staff (1-3)
  • Chief of Staff
  • Physicians
  • Patient family advisors (2–5) – one of which is an Elder from a reserve in Greenstone.