Northern Health Sees Few Complaints on Quality of Care
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Friday, July 30, 2010 01:53 PM
Prince George, B.C.- When it comes to patient satisfaction with quality of care, Northern Health seems to have scored well if you consider the number of complaints filed with the Patient Care Quality Office (PCQO).
In it’s first full year of operation the Northern Health Authority’s PCQO received 188 complaints about quality of care. That is the second lowest number of complaints in the province, with only the Provincial Health Services Authority dealing with fewer complaints.
The Fraser Health Authority had the most Care Quality complaints with 2,157, followed by the Vancouver Island Health Authority at 1,619, then Vancouver Coastal at 854, Interior Health had 828. The Northern Health complaints were well below those numbers at 188 and the Provincial Health Services Authority handled 178.
In Northern Health, all but two of the complaints were resolved at the local office level. Of the two sent to the Review Board, one was dealt with before the end of the fiscal year ( March 31st) but the decision was not issued before that year end. That complaint had to do with occupational therapy services. The status of the second one that was sent for review was not outlined in the annual report.
In Northern Health, the most common complaint was about staff attitude (30 complaints) followed by deficiencies in acute care, and inadequate assessment which were tied at 19 complaints each.
In 2009-10, the boards throughout the province made 104 recommendations for quality improvement, resulting in a number of changes at the local and regional level, including new and amended policies and protocols, better communications tools for providers and patients, and new educational opportunities and training for staff.
Northern Health Complaints details:
*note: the colour of the bars represent different areas, with the red bars for acute care complaints, the yellow bar is home care.
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Posted by: mwk on July 30 2010 3:37 PMPojeb_sa you might have a point. I was curious so I thought I would try and look at the numbers a different way to see if they are low or not.
I believe the number of people in Northern BC that the NHA looks after is about 200,000 people. The Vancouver Island area is about 800,000 or 4 times our population. So if we took the 188 complaints and multiplied it by 4 that would be 752 complaints vs the 1,619 that the Vancouver Island health authority actually got. .
So just based on that I would say the article is speaking the truth. NHA did have a low number of complaints.
Good Work NHA!!
I believe the number of people in Northern BC that the NHA looks after is about 200,000 people. The Vancouver Island area is about 800,000 or 4 times our population. So if we took the 188 complaints and multiplied it by 4 that would be 752 complaints vs the 1,619 that the Vancouver Island health authority actually got. .
So just based on that I would say the article is speaking the truth. NHA did have a low number of complaints.
Good Work NHA!!
Posted by: Pojeb_sa on July 30 2010 4:58 PMThe number of patients seen in each Health Authority vs. Fraser Health Authority would also be useful. I think Northern Health is doing a good job, but feel good stories which don't provide meaningful data are misleading.
Posted by: gus on July 31 2010 10:04 AMI would like to know much more about how the stats are collected and how a complaint is identified by region.
We have to remember that there are quite a number of differences that set the health areas apart.
1. We are not likely to get too many people from other areas of the province coming here, thus the population of our catchment area is relatively accurate.
2. The lower mainland is a catchment area for the entire province since many more complex cases are sent there.
3. The age demographic may also play into where complaints are more likely to be launched. We have a much younger group than the lower mainland which may cause less people to complain here. Not only that, but the types of cases here are likely to be different.
So, how is someone from NH with cancer who gets radiation treatment in the lower mainland and might have a complaint there recorded in the system?
Where do complaints about transportation between here and the lower mainland go?
I was trying to find some better stats on the web, but could not by using search engines. I would not be surprised if there is no standard reporting system available.
Example.
Vancouver Hospital reports number of beds, 1,900, with 116,000 patients per year.
NH reports 544 acute regional beds with 64,000 overnight stays.
Those stats came from various sites.
Where is a single site which reports common data?
We have to remember that there are quite a number of differences that set the health areas apart.
1. We are not likely to get too many people from other areas of the province coming here, thus the population of our catchment area is relatively accurate.
2. The lower mainland is a catchment area for the entire province since many more complex cases are sent there.
3. The age demographic may also play into where complaints are more likely to be launched. We have a much younger group than the lower mainland which may cause less people to complain here. Not only that, but the types of cases here are likely to be different.
So, how is someone from NH with cancer who gets radiation treatment in the lower mainland and might have a complaint there recorded in the system?
Where do complaints about transportation between here and the lower mainland go?
I was trying to find some better stats on the web, but could not by using search engines. I would not be surprised if there is no standard reporting system available.
Example.
Vancouver Hospital reports number of beds, 1,900, with 116,000 patients per year.
NH reports 544 acute regional beds with 64,000 overnight stays.
Those stats came from various sites.
Where is a single site which reports common data?
Posted by: Chester on July 31 2010 9:35 PMGus, you raise some good points. How about all of the people who are not satisfied with the results from our own ego centered Dr.s, and who go on their own for another opinion in the lower mainland? And are very happy with the results received in only hours in Van? I am aware to too many testimony's to count. It's very easy to the numbers to make things look very different than the reality. I am very fed up with the attitudes of many Dr.'s in PG who are more concerned with their own reputations than the welfare of their patients. What would the Dr.s think in Van if we send you down after two and three physicians in PG have already looked at your case? You got it, not good.
Get over yourselves. It's my health vs your reputation. If you can't figure things out, refer me to somebody else, please?
Get over yourselves. It's my health vs your reputation. If you can't figure things out, refer me to somebody else, please?
In 2005 the operating budget for Vancouver Hospital was $463 million.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Hospital_and_Health_Sciences_Centre
For 2007/2008 Northern Health's entire budget was $560 million.