“Rate my Hospital” data subject to interpretation

A recent CBC television show featuring a CBC-conducted rating of all hospitals in Canada, rated the Daysland Health Care Centre as the eighth worst hospital in Canada, causing some outrage and concern in that town and beyond.

During the Apr. 24 question period in the Alberta Legislature, Wildrose MLA Drew Barnes brought up the question of the Daysland Health Centre’s “substantially worse conditions than the average hospital in rural Alberta,” referring directly to the CBC ‘Rate my Hospital” report as his source of information.

The report graded hospitals on a scale of five levels, from A+ to D, and assigned Daysland a D rating, which they described as ‘Service substantially lower than other hospitals of its size.’

In CBC’s explanation of the rating methods, they acknowledge that the methods hospitals use to keep track of data about quality of care vary widely across Canada.

Read the whole story in the April 30, 2013 Edition of The Community Press, on newsstands now!