Report to Our Communities highlights progress, achievements and collaboration taking place across Horizon August 8, 2024 (HORIZON) – Horizon Health Network (Horizon) is making progress to action strategic improvements while remaining accountable and transparent. Horizon continues to strategically approach the recruitment and retention of health care workers, while improving access to services that prioritize optimizing patient flow, enhancing the overall patient experience. Horizon’s Report to Our Communities showcases the achievements of the past quarter, including improvements in patient flow, recruitment and retention gains, and innovative approaches. These efforts contribute to the positive momentum of the Critical Action Plan, initiated over two years ago to enhance healthcare in New Brunswick. The fifth edition highlights organizational progress from April 1 to June 30, 2024, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and innovation. “Transparency and innovation are at the core of our work to enhance and optimize health care across New Brunswick and in the past few months we’ve made remarkable progress in establishing partnerships and adopting innovative approaches to provide our staff and physicians with the tools necessary to ensure quality and safe patient care within our facilities and throughout New Brunswick,” said Margaret Melanson, Horizon’s President and CEO. Significant work has been made across the organization during the last few months to navigate and overcome ongoing challenges around health care access in New Brunswick. Since Horizon’s last report in March, there are 57 improvement projects currently underway in all regional hospitals, as well as at 7 community sites and 23 separate departments and programs. “Every day, patient-focused decision-making is at the centre of all we do with innovation being a key component of our strategic efforts to ensure our decisions respect patient’s needs, values, and preferences,” said Susan Harley, Horizon’s Board Chair, “As we balance and evaluate new approaches, it is important to do so with accountability and transparency, setting realistic goals that shape health care in our province.” Some highlights from our latest report include: Significant recruitment gains: Horizon’s Talent Acquisition teams have exceeded targets, recruiting 261 Registered Nurses (RNs) (net gain of 152) and 105 Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNS) (net gain of 50) in the first quarter, plus 626 new employees like Respiratory Therapists (RTs), medical laboratory assistants, and social workers, plus 65 physicians. A specialized Command Centre at Horizon’s Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital supports over 300 patients daily by coordinating discharge planners, patient flow coordinators, bed access coordinators, and New Brunswick Extra-Mural Program liaisons. Strategic leadership roles have been established to co-lead Horizon’s primary healthcare services, focusing on strategic planning through a dyad leadership model. This approach aims to provide primary care to new residents in New Brunswick and those losing their primary care providers due to physician retirements. Horizon’s The Moncton Hospital (TMH) is now the only facility in Atlantic Canada, and the sixth in Canada, to offer Acessa® Laparoscopic Radiofrequency Ablation technology for treating fibroid-related pain, providing a uterus-preserving alternative to hysterectomy. Horizon is partnering with Skip the Waiting Room on an innovative pilot project to enable online appointment bookings at the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre. This initiative simplifies the booking process, reduces administrative burdens for staff, and has already facilitated over 450 episodic care appointments. New Brunswickers can make more informed decisions thanks to a partnership with the Department of Health to publish medical imaging wait times at Horizon Health Network facilities, on a live dashboard on our website. Horizon’s Report to Our Communities includes many more examples of innovative initiatives and solutions which have been actioned to enhance access to emergency care, surgeries, addiction and mental health services, as well as improving patient flow in our facilities, providing a better experience for our patients and clients, and prioritizing the retention and recruitment of health care workers, and we encourage New Brunswickers to take the time to read through the report in full. View the report here. Horizon has a plan to improve health care in New Brunswick. Our plan is focused on retention and recruitment efforts and improving the overall patient experience by addressing patient flow and access to services. Further details about Horizon’s four priority areas are available at HorizonNB.ca. This initiative also supports the Government of New Brunswick’s provincial health plan, Stabilizing Health Care: An Urgent Call to Action – 30 – For more information contact: Kris McDavidMedia Relations1-877-499-1899media@horizonnb.cahorizonnb.ca/news