Pohlen meets high standards
For the first time, Pohlen Hospital has received a four-year certification period following its audit in January against the Health and Disability Sector Standards and Aged Residential Care Contracts.
Pohlen Hospital was assessed against 210 different criteria and received three continuous improvement ratings, 206 fully attained and just one partial.
Four-year certification is one of the highest ratings to be received and provides patients and families with peace of mind that they are receiving care that meets an extremely high standard.
The industry average for certifi- cation is three years and Pohlen Hospital chief executive Anton Turner said they were delighted.
‘‘This is a huge feather in our cap to achieve this level of certification. For a little place like Pohlen, this really is a marvellous achievement,’’ Mr Turner said.
‘‘We are classified by the Ministry of Health as a hospital and not an aged care facility and yet we still compare ourselves to the aged care industry where there are over 600 facilities and only 15 of them have four-year certification, so this really is a big deal.’’
Mr Turner said there was never an expectation to get four-year certification and what it means is that the Ministry of Health and members of the Matamata community can have confidence in the services that are being provided.
‘‘ Our performance in certifi- cation audits has been getting better and better over the last six years. This is a reflection of the wonderful staff we have and all the work that they have put in to making our services what they are today. I would particularly like to thank clinical nurse leader Loraine Jecentho, nurse manager Martin Miles and my personal assistant Suellen Woods for doing lots of work to keep all the documentation and quality systems up to date. These are just a few of the people who need to be acknowledged,’’ Mr Turner said.
‘‘The community can be justly proud of their hospital.’’