The CEO of the county’s three hospitals questions the methodology behind a recent ‘B’ rating of his facilities.
Jerome Quenneville, CEO of Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Fergus, as well as Wellington North Health Care and its hospitals in Mount Forest and Palmerston, said he is pleased with the rating that was part of a survey for the CBC program Fifth Estate and the CBC Rate My Hospital ratings.
However, he questioned a ‘D’ rating for Groves in the category for adverse effects of treatment among medical patients. According to the survey, more than 41 patients developed problems, including bedsores and infections tied to nursing care.
Quenneville said he was aware of two incidents at Groves, but added, for a small hospital, two reports can skew overall performance.
“We had two specific patient incidents that might have offered that score, but two people in a small hospital changes the grade fairly quickly,” he said. “I’m not sure what their rating system is about.”
Some 239 hospitals were given a ‘B’ grade, considered an average assessment. The ratings were based on data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and included adverse effects of treatment among medical patients, adverse effects tied to nursing care, readmission after surgery, adverse events after surgery and mortality rates after major surgery.
Quenneville acknowledged a finding in the survey calling for hospitals to be more open with the public.
“We try to get our message out with the feedback we get from the community,” he said.
What the hospital has to ensure is that confidential information is kept from the public until it can be released.
The area hospitals rely on direct information supplied by patients, their families and hospital staff to NCR Picker, an external agency that handles inquiries, Quenneville said.
Results from NCR indicate a more favourable rating for the three hospitals, with Quenneville indicating that a recent survey shows all three hospitals received a 93% satisfactory rating for emergency room and inpatient services.
“Our latest results are very good, with people responding to questions of whether they would recommend the hospital to friends and family for inpatients and a number of factors for ER,” he said. “This is a suggested measure of performance through our Quality Improvement Plan reporting from Health Quality Ontario.
Quenneville said his hospitals welcome suggestions to improve services.
