Mental Health Hospitals Unveil Performance Measures to Increase Transparency and Accountability

TORONTO, Nov. 7, 2011 /CNW/ - Ontario's four specialty mental health hospitals have come together and developed a new innovative and standardized approach to measure critical performance indicators of mental health care—a first for the province.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores), Royal Ottawa Mental Health Group (The Royal) and Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care (Waypoint) today launched the Mental Health and Addictions Quality Initiative at the Ontario Hospital Association's HealthAchieve conference.

"We have developed quality indicators for our mental health care facilities to increase transparency, accountability and consistency," says Glenna Raymond, President and CEO, Ontario Shores.  "Each organization has measureable data that is standardized, comparable and provides meaningful information to the public."

The indicators were developed in response to the hospitals' recognition of the need to have performance indicators specific to mental health care.  The mental health indicators represent performance in key areas including client complexity, client outcomes, client access, staff safety, human resources, fiscal responsibility and client safety.

"For CAMH, this initiative is about keeping our promises-- to our patients, our staff, and our community," says Dr. Catherine Zahn, President and CEO, CAMH.  "It's also about getting better. We are passionately invested in these goals."

The indicators help each organization measure its outcomes, quality, safety and fiscal responsibilities as a public hospital and share this information with the community in a way that is consistent for all mental health care facilities in Ontario.

"The real winners are the patients who will benefit as a result of this benchmarking," says Carol Lambie, President and CEO, Waypoint.  "It's an opportunity for staff to access data and information sharing for translation and implementation of best practices."

This is the first time specialty mental health hospitals have come together to define, measure and share their outcomes. This collaboration will ensure all mental health care hospitals are aligned with provincial and national data measurement initiatives.

"Measuring indicators specific to mental health provides meaningful data to ensure that we maintain the best level of care possible to clients across the province," says George Weber, President and CEO, The Royal.

The data is collected through CIHI's Ontario Mental Health Reporting System. "This initiative demonstrates how collaboration can lead to innovation in the use of data and information, to the benefit of Ontario patients and their families. By using comparable data, Ontario's specialty mental health hospitals will be in a better position to learn from each other and advance outcomes both within their facilities and across the healthcare system," says Jean-Marie Berthelot, Vice-President of Programs, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

View a copy of the Mental Health and Addictions Quality Initiative scorecard.

About the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH):
CAMH is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.

About Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores):
Ontario Shores is a leader in mental health care, providing a spectrum of specialized assessment and treatment services for people living with complex mental illness. Patients benefit from a recovery-oriented environment of care, built on compassion, inspiration and hope. Ontario Shores engages in research, education and advocacy initiatives to advance the mental health care system.

About Royal Ottawa Mental Health Group (The Royal):
The Royal is one of Canada's foremost mental health care and academic health science centres. Its mandate is simple: to get more people living with mental illness into recovery faster. The Royal combines the delivery of specialized mental health care, advocacy, research and education to transform the lives of people with complex and treatment resistant mental illness. The Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health raises funds that support The Royal's work while placing a sharp focus on awareness building through the You Know Who I Am campaign. For more information, please visit www.theroyal.ca.

About Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care (Waypoint):
Located in Penetanguishene, Waypoint has a 100 year history of offering healing and inspiring hope through innovative treatment, compassionate care and an emphasis on quality of daily life.  An extensive range of regional forensic, acute and longer term psychiatric inpatient and outpatient services are part of the fully accredited hospital. Waypoint includes the province's 160-bed maximum security provincial forensic hospital and is recognized as an official teaching hospital and university based research academic centre.

For further information:

or to set up an interview, please contact:

Michael Torres
Media Relations
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
[phone]
[e-mail]

Susan Nakhle
Director, Communications and Public Affairs
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
905-430-4055 ext. 6068
Cell: 905-439-2657
[e-mail]

Nicole Loreto
Chief Communications Officer
The Royal
Cell: 613.697.2000
[e-mail]

Laurene Hilderley
Director of Communications and Fund Development
Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care
705-549-3181, ext. 2214
[e-mail]