According to an independent survey, the service provided at the South Muskoka Memorial and Huntsville District Memorial Hospitals hasn’t gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic – it’s improved.
A survey was done by NRC Picker, an organization that helps with surveys for the Ontario Hospital Association, and evaluated what patients thought of the care they got during their acute or emergency care at one of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare’s (MAHC) two hospitals. Between January 1st and March 31st, 2021, 68.1-percent of emergency patients were satisfied with their care, which is 13-percent higher than the provincial average. For acute inpatient care, 64.4-percent of patients were happy with their care, which is 2.2-percent higher than the rest of Ontario.
“I think it demonstrates that the people that were in our buildings – either in the emergency department or on inpatient units in the middle of the pandemic – received the care they were hoping to receive,” MAHC’s President and CEO Natalie Bubela tells the MyMuskokaNow.com newsroom, adding they “often” exceed the provincial averages when it comes to patient satisfaction. “This has been a pattern of satisfaction that is being reported by people that use our facilities.”
Bubela notes that the survey was done just about a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, so she says she’s proud to be above the provincial averages. “It reinforces the good care the staff are doing,” she says, adding when you’re praised for the work you’re doing, you’re likely to continue doing it.