The @NBHealthCouncil released its acute care survey for NB last week. I find these surveys interesting and had a look. The survey was done well before Covid. https://nbhc.ca/news/nbhc-survey-finds-no-improvement-key-indicators-new-brunswick-hospitals Thread warning... 1/x:

2/x First, some caveats. The data aren’t great for the tiny hospitals because there are so few respondents. 5/9 hospitals in Vitalite had fewer than 100 responses, 5/11 in Horizon had fewer than 100 responses. Only 3 hospitals in NB had 1000+ responses.

3/x Some of the questions are of limited utility. I always enjoy this one: “Would you recommend this hospital to your friends and family?” Like we’re filling out a survey from Amazon: "waited too long, not enough ice chips, IV pole not as shiny as advertised."

4/x Horizon’s performance on delivering care in French to francophones is awful. Fredericton is the worst major hospital in the province here; SJ twice as good. No Horizon hospital has improved in years.

5/x Vitalite really dunks on Horizon here. It has improved every survey since data have been collected on delivering care to anglophones in English.

6/x Of the major hospitals, patients reported The Moncton Hospital the dirtiest- 38.6% said “my room and bathroom were always kept clean” there. TMH has been the worst in the province for ten years running and getting worse every time.

7/x The hospital food is getting worse in Vitalite, but is relatively stable in Horizon. (It turns out eating well is important to getting better). 54% provincially say the food quality was good, very good, or excellent. Spoiler: I am not one of the 54%...

8/x: Most folks know sleep is helpful when recovering from anything. 40.7% of all respondents said the area around their room was always quiet at night. Vitalite again does better on this indicator than Horizon, which is slowly worsening over time. TMH struggles here too, 33%.

9/x: One bright spot for Horizon: patient-observed hand-washing now at 73%, vs 68% in 2013.

10/x Changes to visitor policies have meant more access for patients to their families. 86% of respondents said “the visiting hours for family or friends always met their needs”, a change from 2013 when it was only 80%. (With Covid, this is now plummeting).

To sum up, three notes: The @NBHealthCouncil fulfills a role here, but they need more resources to get meaningful feedback for smaller hospitals – or stop measuring them. Margins of error of 10%+, every three years, make the data almost unusable for small hospitals.

When we don’t listen, things don’t improve. Hospitals use space-age equipment, but struggle to provide good food, quiet rest and clean rooms. Some have scored poorly on cleanliness for a decade and are getting worse. (Umm, @HorizonHealthNB and TMH, who’s on that?)

The flip side of that is also true: NB hospitals can and do make changes which result in a measurable difference to the patient experience. When suggestions are acted on like free Wifi and open visiting hours, patient experiences in hospitals improve. Let's use data to be better!