Accreditation Award

Our Lady's Home of Compassion Hospital and Rest Home

Friday, April 14, 2000

Quality And Compassion Combined

SPEECH BY THE HON. ANNETTE KING

MINISTER FOR HEALTH

Our Lady's Home of Compassion Hospital and Rest Home occupies a special place in Wellington in terms of care, and I am delighted to be invited here on such a happy day today.

The Quality Health New Zealand award for accreditation I am about to present recognises the quality of the health care delivered by all the staff and management at Compassion Hospital.

The award recognises effort, commitment and excellence of service, particularly in terms of focusing on the people who use your services, regardless of their cultural, religious or socio-economic background.

In your case, the award is even more meritorious because it is the second time you have received it for the three-year term for which the award is valid. The fact you have received the award two terms in a row demonstrates how committed everyone here is to making Compassion Hospital a special place to be in.

Given the history of Compassion Hospital, such commitment is not at all surprising, however.

Our Lady’s Home of Compassion Hospital and Rest Home has been offering an important and worthwhile service to Wellingtonians and those in the region since the turn of the last century when your founder Suzanne Aubert came to Wellington to continue her work with those in need.

The land for Our Lady's Home of Compassion was purchased in Island Bay by Suzanne Aubert in 1900 on behalf of The Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion, known as the Sisters of Compassion, the order she founded in 1892. The first home opened in 1907, and Suzanne Aubert remained in Wellington until her death in 1926.

You now have a long history, therefore, of providing care with compassion. One of the aspects that makes you so special is that you provide medical, surgical, respite and rest home services to anyone who is in need regardless of financial issues.

Staff and management here have always had a commitment to do their utmost to make people’s stays as comfortable and as reassuring as possible.

This award recognises that dedication of staff and management, as well as the quality clinical and management systems Our Lady's Home of Compassion Hospital and Rest Home provides.

Put quality care and quality management together, and add the special ingredient of compassion, and the outcome is a hospital and rest home Wellington can treasure.

Your statement of philosophy is one everyone can support. It begins as follows: "Each person is unique and has a basic right to life. Our concept of total care embraces the physical, psychological, spiritual, social and economic needs of all peoples served, regardless of race, beliefs, sex, age or financial status."

Even more important than the philosophy itself is the fact that you put the philosophy into practice, day after day, year after year.

In closing I would like to commend and congratulate each and every one of you for your hard work and commitment to quality services, and wish you well for the future. I am sure that your work will continue in the same high quality manner which this Quality Health New Zealand accreditation award represents. Well done, everyone.

ENDS

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