Written by Radical changes in healthcare are nothing new for Saskatchewan. Once again they’re leading the way, using Lean Management to implement a culture of continuous improvement.
Close to five years ago, Saskatchewan residents told Patient First Review Commissioner Tony Dagnone the status quo was no longer working when it came to health care quality. Healthcare leaders saw it as a call to action. “All too often, healthcare reviews are commissioned and then put on the shelf and forgotten,” says Saskatoon Health Region president and CEO Maura Davies. “Our review was the catalyst for system-wide change.”
Creating the conditions for making deep and dramatic system changes across an entire province is no small task. But listening to three people who put themselves in the middle of those changes, you realize that for them and an army of supporters, there was no alternative. Maura, along with Suann Laurent, Sunrise Regional Health Authority President and CEO, and Bonnie Brossart, Saskatchewan Health Quality Council CEO, shared lessons learned from the Saskatchewan Lean Management journey at the recent CCHL (Canadian Council of Healthcare Leadership) Conference in Banff.