Patient Satisfaction Slowly Climbing in Northern Health

Monday, December 06, 2010 03:29 PM

Prince George, B.C.- Patient satisfaction is on the rise within Northern Health.

In 2005, a in –patient survey indicated 89% of respondents rated their level of satisfaction with services as either “excellent”, “very good” or “good”. That percentage rose to just over 91% in a repeat survey in 2008. A report from Northern Health’s Planning and Quality department also shows:

Ongoing surveys of emergency department patients show satisfaction with the overall quality of services up to over 89 percent in the first three months of 2010, from 87 percent for the same period last year.
A first-of-its-kind, provincially coordinated Mental Health and Addictions survey began in October, and will run for six months.

The information was presented today at the meeting of the Northern Health Board.

The Board has also been told the small surplus recorded in September will be used over the winter months when there is a typical increase in patient volumes, and increased staffing requirements. Northern Health is projecting a balanced budget for 2010-11.

The Board also took time today to recognize the important contributions of Foundations and Auxiliaries to healthcare in the north. Northern Health’s 7 hospital and healthcare Foundations and 18 Auxiliary groups raise approximately $6 million dollars a year toward capital projects and equipment purchases.

“The philanthropic efforts of the healthcare Foundations and Auxiliaries enable good services to be made better,” said Dr. Charles Jago, NH Board Chair. “The generosity of Northerners is evidence of the commitment the people in the North have to their health care system. This $6 million dollars is the difference that allows the quality of services provided by Northern Health for the people of the North to go from a standard of good, to excellent.”

The next NH Board meeting will take place February 14^th and 15^th 2011, in Burns Lake.

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Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 03:29 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on December 6 2010 4:42 PM

"Patient satisfaction" only includes the survivors of our "free" system. Am I right?

Posted by: Dragonmaster on December 6 2010 9:36 PM

Anyone I know that has had any hospital visits over the past few years have nothing good to say about them.

Posted by: hammmy on December 7 2010 3:11 AM

Tell that to people waiting in the emergency room!

Posted by: Dragonmaster on December 7 2010 9:34 AM

Kind of like an internal RCMP investigation.

Posted by: univ on December 7 2010 1:31 PM

Are these so called surveys a reply to the 250 petitions by the nurses union and their recent demonstration on poor quality of service?

This only points to the fact that the Northern Health Authority (NHA), despite receiving an extra $6 million Dollars, has failed to deliver a quality service, if we give more weight to the nurses union's surveys. In the words of independent group who criticized the over-spending in UNBC in 2007 report and the city in 2010 report, the NHA "has an expenditure problem and not a revenue problem". The whole public sector in Prince George suffers from the over-spending sickness and poor service.

The problem between nurses union in UHNBC and the NHA, is a repetition of the problems that Jago had with the UNBC union (e.g. 2003 critical report on his mismanagement there). Let's critically examine the roots of Jago's problems with nurses union and UNBC's union. Jago doesn't beleive in "participatory governance" with unions and he has a very negative view regarding unions in contrast to the "firmly established authority" of the boards. In his Jan 24, 2009 talk in UNBC he reveals this when he argues the truth in:

"... it is clear that the faculty unionization of the 1970s and 1980s, building on the participatory governance changes of the 1960s, has given the faculty collective power and authority ... that encourages the status quo and avoidance of change, diminishes accountability, and does little to recognize and reward quality and merit."

Ironically, he says "diminishes accountability". He is a true beleiver of Gordon Campbell's school of thought in unaccountable governance.