New Brunswick Health Council releases new data on patients’ experiences

A new report by the New Brunswick Health Council highlights patients’ experiences across the province and flags a number of areas in need of improvement.

The Council surveyed nearly 5,000 patients between June and November of last year regarding their care in hospitals, focusing on six key factors:

• emotional support
• internal coordinator of care
• received information about their condition and treatment
• communication with nurses
• pain control
• if the hospital takes their safety seriously.

“It really seems to be a situation here where the experience of care can really fluctuate between work shifts even,” said Council CEO Stéphane Robichaud. “Depending on the team that you’re being served with at that given time, you could either be getting excellent care or experience a service or care that makes you quite nervous.”

One of the comments in the report read, “The nurses I had on the labour and delivery floor were two angels, they made me feel comfortable, like I was in control […]”

Another patient reported, “It was one of the worst experiences I have ever had to endure. I was treated like a number, a nonhuman, a disease, a condition, but never as a PERSON […].”

“What we saw was satisfaction appeared to be much better for surgical and less so for maternity and medical was somewhere in between,” Robichaud said. “Even if in majority of cases people have reported satisfactory services, it’s those areas where it was not the case is worrisome. It means it’s an impact on people’s ability to have positive outcomes. It can have an impact on people’s health, so very important for both RHA’s to look at those areas of improvement.”

The report also noted how different areas of the province are doing. Zone 4, which is the Edmundston area, scored roughly the provincial average in all six key factors.

“One thing that we see is the congeniality that we have between the staff, the doctors, the support staff, the nurses,” said Mayor Eric Marquis.

He says the city works with the hospital when it comes to recruitment.

“When we have, for example, a new physician that is looking to establish himself or herself in Edmundston, we will work with the hospital to, for example, show them the city, show them the services that we have,” he said. “Basically to show them what we have to offer to them and hoping that they were come to our hospital and stay in our city.”

The Campbellton area scored below the provincial average on a number of factors, including emotional support.

“All parts of the province require improvements and usually when you undertake that journey, improvement doesn’t occur at the same time everywhere so that sustained effort is going to be quite essential,” said Robichaud.

CTV News Atlantic reached out to both Vitalite Health Network and Horizon Health Network and while no one was available for an interview, both provided a statement in response to the latest data.

Jenny Toussaint, vice president of logistics, patient flow, intensive care and internal medicine at Vitalite, said they plan to review the results in depth.

“We note that Zone 4 is one of the best-resourced within the Network, which could explain the mostly positive responses. Conversely, Zone 5, which faces the greatest staffing challenges, records lower satisfaction rates,” she said in an email.

Vitalite also regularly collects feedback through their own independent surveys, which aim to improve services within their hospitals.

“Improving the patient experience is one of our three major priorities, and we are committed to a continuous improvement process,” said Toussaint.

Horizon Health Network also noted they have recently implemented an ongoing patient experience survey within their hospitals.

“Patient-centred decision-making is at the centre of what we do, and hearing what patients feel we did well and what we need to improve upon helps us to deliver high-quality, safe and compassionate care for all,” said president and CEO Margaret Melanson.

Horizon has also stated they will be publishing the results from these surveys on their website shortly.

Dr. Lise Babin, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society, says the findings from the New Brunswick Health Council’s recent survey align with what doctors and other health-care professionals see daily.

“The data are reflective of issues inherent to the acute care sector, such as health, human resource shortages, lack of available beds, and outdated IT infrastructure. However, they are also symptoms of issues plaguing the health system in general. For instance, challenges in accessing primary care services have a direct impact on the number and complexity of cases needing to be managed in hospitals,” she said in an email. “While proper fixes for a number of these issues are beyond the scope of individual providers and will require larger system level changes, it is important that we as health-care professionals focus on improving those aspects that we can control, such as clear communication and providing appropriate emotional as well as clinical support to patients.”

Robichaud says this survey will be conducted again in three years to check for improvements across the province.

“Having a sustained focus is very essential,” he said. “I’d say that the past has proven that when there is a focused attention for improvement, they can do it. I think what will be key when looking at the years ahead is how to ensure that that focus is sustained.”

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.