Hospital cleanliness still in the toilet for patients

A smaller percentage of hospital patients in New Brunswick say their rooms and bathrooms were always kept clean, making hospital cleanliness one of the chief concerns of patients in a new survey by the New Brunswick Health Council.

"Cleanliness remains an area for improvement," says the report on patient satisfaction released Tuesday.

Only 52 per cent of the patients who responded to the survey last year reported their hospital rooms and bathrooms were always kept clean.

That figure is lower than the response recorded in similar surveys in 2010 [59.6 per cent] and 2013 [53.2 per cent].

"Aspects of the hospital environment, such as the quality of bathroom and toilet areas, can be highly influential in determining patients' feelings about their hospital experience," the report said.

Stéphane Robichaud, the New Brunswick Health Council's chief executive officer, said patient concerns about hospital cleanliness persist, despite efforts by the Horizon Health Network and Vitalité Health Network to improve the situation.

"I know that many of them will be disappointed," he said. "Cleanliness is one of those areas that, within Horizon, there's been huge efforts at trying to improve that, so I know there's some disappointment.

"You know overall, we've seen a number of areas, actually five areas under Horizon and two areas under Vitalité, where there's been statistically significant improvement."

"But cleanliness is one of those where we've been fairly stagnant. We're not seeing some improvement."

The survey only looks at the cleanliness of patients' rooms and bathrooms, not the hospitals overall, he added.

Only 50 per cent of patients taking part in the survey said they were "completely informed" about the admissions process, and 62 per cent said they felt completely informed about what to do if they had concerns after being discharged.

Those questions were not asked in previous surveys.

6,733 patients respond

The health council says it surveys patients about their hospital experience to inform citizens about the quality of hospital care and to help improve the management of services.

The survey was sent to 14,504 patients who were discharged after spending at least one night in an acute care hospital between December 2015 and March 2016. The survey was answered by 6,733 patients, or 46 per cent.

Patients in pediatrics, psychiatric care, palliative care, long-term care and rehabilitation were excluded from the survey.

Overall satisfaction improves

The health council is funded by the provincial government but acts as an arm's–length watchdog over the provision of health–care services in New Brunswick. The 2016 report was the third such survey it has carried out about patient satisfaction since 2010.

The 2016 report indicates that patient satisfaction has increased overall, with 79 per cent of patients giving a favourable rating to their hospital stays, compared to 76 per cent in 2010 and 75 per cent in 2013.

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A higher percentage of patients surveyed were satisfied with the communication with nurses (72 per cent) and pain control [68 per cent] and said the hospital definitely took their safety seriously (82 per cent).

Ninety-four per cent of surveyed patients received service in their preferred language when English was preferred, and 84 per cent did so when French was preferred.

Those figures indicated a higher percentage of patients are getting services in the language of their choice.