A statewide survey has found that 95% of patients who were admitted into rural hospitals in the Western NSW Local Health District rated their care as “very good” or “good.”
Chief Executive for the WNSWLHD Scott McLachlan said the findings in the 2019-20 Rural Hospital Adult Admitted Patient Survey showed rural hospitals in the district were providing excellent quality care in their local communities.
“The Bureau of Health Information received responses from more than 1,000 people in our Local Health District and our hospitals performed very well,” Scott said. “We had a particularly strong response to our provision of telehealth services, with 93% of local respondents rating their experience as ‘very good’ or ‘good.’”
“We are growing our telehealth options all the time, with a range of services now using this technology. Telehealth now plays a role in services from pharmacy and allied health care, such as physiotherapy, through to highly complex care such as Telestroke.”
“Our rural hospitals also performed really well in practical areas such as the cleanliness of patient areas and safety and hygiene.”
“Importantly, our staff also continue to be very effective in how they communicate with patients, and 89% said that their health professionals were always kind and caring.”
“There were many outstanding results in our small hospitals. The team at Canowindra Health Service should be particularly proud with some of the best responses to many of the questions. That included 88% rating their care at Canowindra as ‘very good.’ We have a very resilient, committed and highly skilled rural workforce. They should be justifiably proud of the response they have received in this latest report.”