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Fraser Institute turns sights on hospitals with latest report

Acute stroke patients in Greater Victoria hospitals were at a higher risk of mortality than those treated elsewhere in B.C. in 2008-09.

Acute stroke patients in Greater Victoria hospitals were at a higher risk of mortality than those treated elsewhere in B.C. in 2008-09.

Heart failure patients at Royal Jubliee and Victoria General hospitals, however, were more likely to live.

The Fraser Institute released its British Columbia Hospital Report Card July 7, rating inpatient quality and safety in each of the province’s 95 acute care hospitals. Rankings are based on volumes of procedures, utilization rates, and rates of adverse events.

Among adverse events tracked were accidental cuts or wounds during procedures, of which higher than average rates were documented in Greater Victoria for every year of the report (2001-02 through 2008-09).

The institute lauded B.C.’s health care transparency and accountability for being the only jurisdiction to provide names of all hospitals for the report.

“B.C.’s health ministry should be applauded for providing patients, taxpayers, and health care providers the opportunity to learn more about the performance of local hospitals. This stands in stark contrast to Alberta and Ontario, where the performance of public institutions is concealed behind a veil of anonymity,” Fraser Institute spokesperson Nadeem Esmail said in a press release.

The report draws on more than three million anonymous patient records and is  available online at www.hospitalreportcards.ca.

nnorth@saanichnews.com