Windsor Regional Hospital is celebrating some milestones in patient care.
Since realignment took place in 2013, the hospital was responsible for all acute care services in the city between its Met and Ouellette Campus.
It had to merge policies and procedures dealing with patient care and in the process, some new policies were implemented including a command centre to decide where a patient is placed and 'comfort rounds' where nurses regularly ask patients about their pain and personal needs.
Since the new policies were implemented, patient falls are down by about 100 from 2016-17 to 2017-18 and wait times in the emergency room have been reduced.
"It used to be that after you were admitted, patients would wait 11 hours for a bed, now they are waiting less than four hours on average across the campuses," says Chief Operating Officer Karen McCullough.
She says repeat patients to the hospital are also noticing a change in improved patient care.
The goal of aligning the two acute care hospitals paves the way for a move to a new mega hospital and its design.