Safe Food Handling Audit 2006
BC health authorities achieve “excellent” rating in safe food handling independent audit
BC’s six health authorities scored an overall average of 91.3 per cent – considered an “Excellent” rating – in Canada’s first-ever province-wide independent audit of safe food handling in hospitals and public health system-managed long-term care facilities.
“This audit shows patient care and well-being is the top priority at BC hospitals and long-term care facilities,” said Joe Murphy, Vancouver Island Health Authority Vice President, Operations and Support Services and Chair of the Provincial Food Services Steering Committee. “Food preparation is handled with care and respect for the needs of patients and residents and we are pleased to have this confirmed through an independent audit.”
The safe food handling audit is the first of three, made-in-BC assessments being developed to audit safe food handling practices, gauge patient and resident satisfaction with food served, and determine the nutritional adequacy of foods served in health care-managed facilities.
The joint health authority Food Services Technical Team includes clinical dieticians, public health inspectors and food service managers from the six provincial health authorities. The team worked with Steritech, an independent company chosen by an RFP process, to develop the tool to measure safe food handling levels and conduct the audit.
“It is important to establish a baseline measurement of safe food preparation standards,” added Murphy. “Only by having a baseline measure are we able to examine whether we making continual progress in the future – and we are proud to be leading all Canadian jurisdictions in establishing this baseline data.“
Any critical issues unique to specific facilities were dealt with by health authorities quickly, in some cases, on the spot. A number of relatively minor issues common to many facilities were identified, such as a few instances of improper sanitation solution concentrations, and these are also being rectified through authority action plans.
The Food Services Technical Team is continuing work on the other two aspects of the overall provincial audit, including a patient/resident food satisfaction survey and an assessment of the nutritional adequacy of food served.
The first satisfaction surveys are currently being administered. Because of planned changes to the Canada Food Guide and the need for all hospital and care facilities to implement menu changes based on this update, it is anticipated that the nutritional adequacy assessment RFP will go out in late 2007. Results from each of these measurements will also be made public.
Steritech’s report of safe food handling audit results for the 149 individual facilities reviewed will be posted to health authority web sites. The audit was conducted between April and June of this year and was designed to complement ongoing in-house audits conducted by health authority public health inspectors. All facilities currently follow provincial and national safe food handling and service standards.
The Provincial Food Audit follows the same province-wide joint approach taken last year to assess the cleanliness of all health authority facilities. Having common tools and consistent processes helps improve accountability and service delivery to patients by providing an objective measurement and information to quickly deal with any concerns that are identified.
-30-
For more information, contact:
PHSA Communications Media Pager 604-871-5699
| Health Authority |
# Audits |
Average Score |
Score Range |
| All |
149 |
91.3% |
70.4% - 99.2% |
| Fraser Health |
15 |
91.7% |
77.8%-98.0% |
| Interior Health |
49 |
92.1% |
78.2%-99.2% |
| Northern Health |
29 |
89.1% |
70.4%-98.3% |
| PHSA |
5 |
92.3% |
88.3%-95.7% |
| Vancouver Coastal |
22 |
91.7% |
79.1%-97.8% |
| Vancouver Island |
29 |
91.3% |
77.8%-98.4% |
*No authority or facility scored in the “Poor” (below 70%) range.
- By developing a common, independently audited set of province-wide standards, BC health authorities will ensure that best practices can be shared more easily and quickly. The audit will also establish benchmarks that are consistent for all health facilities, thereby assisting with quality assurance and quality improvement.
- BC is the first jurisdiction in Canada to create and implement uniform, independent audit processes for housekeeping and food services – both designed to ensure the best possible care for patients