National health monitor gives coronary care top marks

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This article was published 31/10/2017 (2956 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A national health organization has given a gold star to Manitoba’s cardiac care program at St. Boniface Hospital.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) says the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s (WRHA) cardiac centre at St. Boniface Hospital scored among the best in the country for all performance indicators, including cardiac surgery results.

“Today’s CIHI report reinforces the quality care Manitobans receive, and will continue to receive, at St. Boniface Hospital,” provincial Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said in a statement Tuesday.

“Manitobans should be proud of the success of the cardiac program and its ever-improving rates as they demonstrate both high-quality patient care and a patient-centred experience for patients.”

CIHI, founded in 1994, is an independent, not-for-profit organization that gathers information on Canada’s health system and the health of Canadians.

The CIHI report looked at mortality and re-admission rates after surgeries for percutaneous coronary intervention (angioplasty), coronary artery bypass graft and aortic valve replacement at hospitals across the country.

It says the WRHA’s rates were better than the national average for all indicators and were the best in Canada for bypass as well as for valve replacement.

Kira Leeb, CIHI’s director of health system performance, said, “While no cardiac care centres performed above or below average on all indicators, variation in indicator results suggests there may be opportunities for quality improvement and sharing of best practices across centres.”

And Dr. Catherine Kells, president of the Canadian Cardiovascular ­Society, said the report was “an extremely positive step forward” for improving patient outcomes and quality of care across the country.

“Cardiologists, like myself, will be able to use these indicator results to make tangible improvements to care that will have a lasting impact on the lives of Canadian heart patients,” Kells said.

Dr. Ross Feldman, medical director of the WRHA’s cardiac sciences program, said the report shows “the WRHA has some of the best rates in the country despite the complexity of the patients we see.

“We perform approximately five per cent of all (angioplasty) procedures in Canada and have the second most inclusive criteria for that procedure in the country.”

Dr. Rakesh Arora, director of the cardiac sciences program’s surgical section, said, “While our re-hospitalization rates for these procedures remain low, we continue to strive for further improvements in the transition process of our patients as they return home to community.

“Our goal is to have our patients not only survive following cardiac surgery, but thrive.”