Providence Care earns Accreditation Canada’s highest award

Accreditation Canada has awarded Providence Care with Accreditation with Exemplary Standing. This designation is the highest award possible through the hospital accreditation program.

According to a release from Providence Care, dated Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, accreditation is an ongoing process of assessing health care and social services organizations against rigorous standards of excellence to identify what is being done well and what needs to be improved. From Nov. 21 to 24, 2022, surveyors from Accreditation Canada visited Providence Care to evaluate the organization on how well it performs against national standards of excellence for quality and safety, the agency stated.

Providence Care earned its Exemplary Standing by meeting 100 per cent of Accreditation Canada’s Required Organizational Practices (ROPs), critical quality practices that ensure safe, quality patient care. ROPs are categorized across six safety areas: safety culture, communication, medication use, infection control, work-life/workforce and risk assessment, according to the release. 

In addition, Providence Care met 98.9 per cent of the standards of excellence against which they were evaluated. The agency shared that these standards ensure service excellence in medication management, infection prevention and control, leadership and governance, and more.

“Despite the challenges faced by our staff and physicians as a result of the pandemic, they continued to provide high quality, compassionate care to the people we serve,” said Cathy Szabo, President & CEO. “This award is a testament to the commitment of our staff, physicians and volunteers. It is an honour to see their work recognized.”

In announcing its decision, Accreditation Canada singled out numerous Providence Care strengths, according to the release, including a strong risk management program, commitment to quality improvement and safety, engaged experience partners and volunteers, communication to patients, clients, residents and families, and nimble response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Executive Summary and full Accreditation Canada Report are available on Providence Care’s website.