Patient and Resident Safety

Ministry Reports

Ontario hospitals are committed to creating an environment that is safe for patients. By publicly reporting data on patient safety indicators, hospitals strive for transparency, accountability and using that data to drive quality improvement.

AGH C.difficile Infection Rates
AGH MRSA Infection Rates
AGH VRE Infection Rates
AGH Hand Hygiene Compliance Rates
AGH Surgical Safety Checklist

Health Quality Ontario

Health Quality Ontario currently reports on a number of hospital care quality indicators for the province. These indicators cover hospital-associated infections, surgical site infection prevention, hand hygiene compliance among hospital healthcare workers (before patient contact and after patient contact) and Surgical Safety Checklist compliance.

Learn more about AGH's performance.

AGH C.difficile Infection Rates

C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) is a bacteria. C. difficile-associated Disease is one of the most common infections found in hospitals. Each Ontario hospital is required to provide monthly updates of its C. difficile Infection Rate. A hospital's C. difficile Infection Rate is calculated as follows: The number of new hospital-acquired cases of C. difficile times 1,000, divided by the hospital's total number of patient days for one month*. The Almonte General Hospital began posting its C. difficile infection rates in September 2008.

AGH C.difficile Infection Rates

AGH C.difficile Infection Rates
	2020	2021	2022
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	0	0	0
August	0	0	0
September	0	0	0
October	0	0	0
November	0	0	0
December	0	0	0

* The total number of days that services were provided to all in-patients during that month, excluding patient days for those patients less than one year of age.

AGH MRSA Infection Rates

S. aureus is a germ that lives on the skin and mucous membranes of healthy people. Occasionally, S. aureus can cause an infection. When S. aureus develops resistance to certain antibiotics, it is called methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

Each Ontario hospital is required to provide monthly updates of its MRSA Infection Rate. MRSA bacteraemia rates are determined by the number of patients newly diagnosed with hospital-acquired MRSA bacteraemia, divided by the number of patient days in that month, and multiplied by 1,000. Patient days are the number of days spent in a hospital for all patients.

The Almonte General Hospital began posting its MRSA Infection Rates in September 2008.

AGH MRSA Infection Rates
	2020	2021	2022
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	0	0	0
August	0	0	0
September	0	0	0
October	0	0	0
November	0	0	0
December	0	0	0

AGH VRE Infection Rates

Enterococci are a type of bacteria normally present in the human intestines and in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is often used to treat infections caused by enterococci. In some instances, enterococci have become resistant to this drug and are therefore called vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE).

Each Ontario hospital is required to provide monthly updates of its VRE Infection Rate. VRE bacteraemia rates are determined by the number of patients newly diagnosed with hospital-acquired VRE bacteraemia, divided by the number of patient days in that month, and multiplied by 1,000. Patient days are the number of days spent in a hospital for all patients.

The Almonte General Hospital began posting its VRE Infection Rates in September 2008.

AGH VRE Infection Rates
	2020	2021	2022
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	0	0	0
August	0	0	0
September	0	0	0
October	0	0	0
November	0	0	0
December	0	0	0

AGH Hand Hygiene Compliance Rates

Proper hand hygiene is the single most effective way of reducing health care associated infections. As part of its ongoing patient safety initiative, Ontario requires all hospitals to monitor and report hand hygiene compliance rates in their facilities so the most appropriate infection prevention and control measures can be put in place. Hospitals use this information to ensure they're maintaining the highest possible standards of patient safety.

Hand Hygiene Compliance Rates

Hand Hygiene Compliance Rates
Fiscal Year	Before initial contact with a patient/ patient’s environment	After contact with the patient’s environment
2014-2015	92.93%	90.43%
2015-2016	94.92%	91.73%
2016-2017	92.48%	93.33%
2017-2018	92.56%	93.91%
2018-2019	92.37%	93.50%
2019-2020	92.90%	94.00%
2020-2021	69.4%	80.8%
2021-2022	66%	69%
2022-2023	80%	78%

AGH Surgical Safety Checklist

Ontario is enhancing patient safety by requiring all hospitals to use a surgical safety checklist. The surgical safety checklist - which covers the most common tasks and items that operating room teams carry out - has been shown to reduce rates of deaths and complications among patients. Some of the items included are the review of test results, administration of antibiotics and post-surgery recovery plans.

AGH Surgical Safety Checklist
	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022
Compliance %	100%	100%	100%	100%	98.7%

For More Information

To find out more about Ministry reporting and efforts to improve patient safety in Ontario hospitals, visit the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care website and search "Patient Safety".