Chatham-Kent’s hospital has launched a new strategic plan that will guide the health care organization for the next five years.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) has now implemented the 2025–2030 Strategic Plan following extensive engagement with CKHA staff, physicians, volunteers, patients, families, and community members.
“The idea there was to get real grassroots input from the organization in terms of what they wanted their hospital to be, what they wanted the values of the hospital to be, how they saw themselves [and] how they wanted to be seen,” said CKHA President and CEO Adam Topp.
A Strategic Plan Committee comprised of hospital staff was formed by early February, which led into a three-month consultation process. As part of the process, 1,728 internal and external online surveys were conducted, 187 people were engaged through 22 community partner discussions, and feedback was gathered from 822 individuals. Another five focus groups were held, along with seven strategic planning events.
As a result, six strategic objectives were created to reflect the values of the Chatham-Kent community. The objectives include:
- Respond with our partners to the health care needs of the communities we serve
- Commit to being an exceptional place to work
- Be responsible stewards of our resources to maximize care
- Enrich each person’s experience at every interaction
- Deliver safe and high-quality patient care
- Support the experience of credentialed health care professionals
Topp said action plans will be developed each year to outline how the hospital plans to achieve its objectives.
“We’re not going to achieve these objectives overnight. It’s a five-year plan. But we will identify specific tactics to move towards those objectives,” he said. “[The plan] provides sufficient structure to provide strategic objectives over the next five years, but it’s also specific enough to be actionable.”
CKHA’s strategic plan will be guided by the new purpose statement, “Our Focus is You”. Rather than a list of values, the hospital has created a new values statement, which reads, “As your community hospital, we value easy-to-access health care rooted in equity and kindness.”
“When we spoke to people, particularly externally, when we asked what they wanted from the hospital, they said, ‘We want to be able to access health care easily.’ That was the overwhelming response from almost everybody,” said Topp.
CKHA Board Chair Deb Crawford said the entire plan is grounded in the voices and needs of Chatham-Kent.
“It’s not a top-down, imposed plan; it’s a plan that has had so much consultation. We wanted consultation in our community because we are a community hospital, and we’re very happy that this plan reflects that,” said Crawford.
More information about CKHA’s new strategic plan can be found by clicking here.