Lead, Patient and Resource Flow

About the Organization

Located on the coast of beautiful Georgian Bay, our facility boasts the best that both nature and technology can offer. We work in one of Canada's most modern health care facilities and live in one of the country's top outdoor adventure destinations. West Parry Sound Health Centre (WPSHC) has always employed an innovative planning approach aimed at integrating services. Faced with the challenges of rural care delivery, WPSHC has partnered in regional alliances and created internal programming solutions that have benefited patient care and improved services throughout the catchment area.

Today our uniquely integrated health care organization includes: Lakeland Long Term Care, six Nursing Stations delivering care to rural communities, management of District ambulance services and dispatch, and a full range of in-patient and out-patient programs associated with a 90-bed acute care hospital.

About the Opportunity

West Parry Sound Health Centre (WPSHC) is seeking a collaborative and solutions-focused Lead, Patient and Resource Flow to support the safe, timely, and efficient movement of patients and resources across the organization. This leadership position is integral to the day-to-day functioning of WPSHC and plays a key role in optimizing hospital capacity, coordinating patient transitions, and ensuring clinical resources are aligned with patient volumes and acuity.

Working closely with clinical leaders, departmental leads, clinical scheduling, discharge planners, physicians, and external healthcare partners, the Lead, Patient and Resource Flow will provide real-time oversight and coordination of patient flow across the organization. The successful candidate will anticipate and respond to capacity pressures, identify barriers to patient progression, and facilitate timely admission, transfer, repatriation, and discharge.

The successful candidate will possess:

• Attend, facilitate, and actively participate in twice-daily organizational bed and capacity huddles, identifying current and anticipated pressures, barriers, and required actions.
• Maintain an organization-wide understanding of bed capacity, patient volumes, acuity, staffing resources, anticipated admissions, transfers, and discharges.
• Collaborate with clinical scheduling and clinical leadership to align staffing and other resources with current and anticipated patient care requirements.
• Work collaboratively with departmental and clinical leads to facilitate the timely and appropriate movement of patients throughout the Health Centre.
• Partner with the Acute Care Clinical Leader to coordinate timely repatriation of patients to and from WPSHC through established critical care and regional transfer processes.
• Coordinate and support treat-and-return patients, ensuring required resources and transportation arrangements are identified and secured in advance whenever possible.
• Continuously assess patient volumes, acuity, capacity, and available resources and, in collaboration with clinical leadership, support the realignment of resources in response to changing operational demands.
• Proactively identify opportunities to safely move patients between units based on clinical needs, capacity, and available resources.
• Identify patients at risk of becoming designated Alternate Level of Care (ALC) and work collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team to establish and advance discharge plans as early as possible.
• Participate in patient care and interdisciplinary rounds, as appropriate, to identify and address barriers affecting patient progression and discharge.
• Liaise with external hospitals, Ontario Health Teams, community agencies, transportation providers, and other healthcare partners to support safe and timely patient transfers and transitions.
• Collaborate closely with discharge planners and clinical teams to ensure patients have the appropriate services, supports, equipment, transportation, and follow-up arrangements required for a safe discharge.
• Escalate significant patient flow, capacity, staffing, and system pressures to the appropriate clinical and operational leaders.
• Support organizational surge and capacity-management strategies during periods of increased patient volumes or system pressure.
• Promote consistent application of organizational patient-flow processes, escalation pathways, and capacity-management practices.
• Identify recurring barriers, trends, and opportunities for improvement related to patient flow, length of stay, discharge, transfers, repatriation, and resource utilization.
• Contribute to quality-improvement initiatives designed to enhance patient flow, improve the patient experience, reduce avoidable delays, and optimize the use of hospital resources.

About the Benefits

$53.61 to $62.12 per hour, based on experience. + Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) + 6% vacation pay and 13% pay in lieu of fringe benefits (9% if enrolled in HOOPP) + Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP) + Wellness Program & onsite gym. Best of all, you will be welcomed into a supportive interdisciplinary team environment that will allow you to develop a wide breadth of skills. This is an opportunity to grow in an established and highly respected organization, using your experience and skills to inspire a direct and positive impact on the community.

More About You

• Current registration in good standing with an applicable regulated health professional college in Ontario; nursing background preferred.
• A minimum of five years of progressive clinical experience in an acute care healthcare environment.
• Demonstrated leadership, charge, coordination, or patient-flow experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of acute care operations, patient flow, discharge planning, ALC management, interfacility transfers, and healthcare system navigation.
• Demonstrated ability to assess complex clinical and operational situations, establish priorities, and make timely decisions.
• Strong understanding of patient safety, quality improvement, and effective utilization of healthcare resources.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, conflict-resolution, and relationship-building skills.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with physicians, clinical teams, leaders, patients and families, and external healthcare partners.
• Ability to remain organized, composed, and solutions-focused while managing multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong computer skills and ability to effectively utilize hospital information systems and patient-flow/capacity-management tools.
• Demonstrated satisfactory attendance levels, work performance, disciplinary history, and positive work references.

The ideal candidate's work will exemplify WPSHC's core values: compassion, accountability, rights and responsibilities, excellence, and safety.

Please note: For the safety and well-being of our patients, employees, and visitors, we require proof of COVID-19 vaccination before commencing employment. Exceptions may be made for individuals who are unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccine for legislated protected reasons (e.g. medical exemption). All incumbents in this position will be required to provide a clear criminal/vulnerable sector check as a condition of employment.

West Parry Sound Health Centre is committed to providing accommodations throughout the recruitment and selection process to applicants with disabilities to ensure equal participation. If selected to participate in the recruitment and selection process, please inform Human Resources of the nature of any accommodation(s) that you may require in respect of any materials or processes.

Personal information submitted will be used for the purpose of this competition only.

Please be advised the WPSHC property is smoke-free.

About Parry Sound

Parry Sound is a beautiful town, located on the shores of an inland “ocean”, Georgian Bay. The area boasts many beautiful beaches, parks and trails. It is ideally situated just off highway 400, in the southernmost part of Northern Ontario. This charming waterfront town is within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and home to 6,500 residents in the town itself, and over 14,000 in the immediate area. In summer, the population grows to nearly 100,000 people with seasonal residents, making for a very interesting dynamic! The area boasts several Provincial Parks and unlimited water for boating, canoeing/kayaking, fishing and things to do. In the winter, Parry Sound has a thriving snowmobiling, ice fishing, skiing and snowshoeing industry. The lakes generally freeze by January, and snow abounds in the area! In the summer the area swells with cottagers and visitors, who have discovered the beauty and hospitality of the region.