The Sturgeon Community hospital is the ninth-best in Canada, according to a survey conducted by the CBC, but Alberta Health Services isn’t willing to discuss the matter.
The rankings, which can be found at www.cbc.ca, looked at several different categories such as mortality, number of “adverse events” such as infections after surgery or medical treatment and the rate of readmission after surgery or medical treatment within 30 days.
The Sturgeon received letter grades of A or A+ in all of those categories. The website ranks approximately 240 hospitals nationally.
“I’m pretty proud of our little hospital,” said Doug Horner, minister of Finance and MLA for Spruce Grove-St. Albert.
But Alberta Health Services isn’t feeling that same pride. A request by the St. Albert Gazette to speak with hospital administration was turned down by Alberta Health Services.
“Any information that helps us improve the health system is valuable,” Tahneen Luedeee, a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services wrote in an e-mail. “However, simply grading hospital outcomes does not take into account wide differences between hospitals and communities they serve. These grades don’t reflect those differences. Every community is different, and that means every hospital will be different. That’s why we think local decision-making is imperative.”
A follow-up e-mail asking why the Gazette could not speak with anyone at the Sturgeon was not returned.
The CBC did state it encountered some resistance from provincial authorities in conducting its research. In fact, several categories for the Sturgeon, such as number of registered nurses and death rate are listed as “unknown.” A note on the web page said staff at the Sturgeon did not complete a survey the CBC compiled and distributed to all hospitals.
Despite that opposition, local officials were pleased with the ranking.
“We all know the Sturgeon Hospital is just a fantastic facility but you don’t get those kinds of rankings if it’s not staffed with exceptional nurses and doctors,” said Stephen Khan, MLA for St. Albert.
Mayor Nolan Crouse called the ranking a feather in St. Albert’s cap.
“You have to be proud of that ranking,” said Crouse. “It’s a regional hospital so obviously it gives a boost in confidence to the staff.”
The latest ranking is one of several the city has received from other media. Moneysense magazine earlier this year said St. Albert is the best small city in Canada, the second-best city overall in Canada and the third-best place to raise a family. A contest in Readers’ Digest named St. Albert the nation’s healthiest community.
Horner declined to comment specifically on how the CBC arrived at its rankings but said the entire exercise, which saw four Alberta hospitals ranked as the 10 best, shows that outsiders are impressed with what Alberta has. The Mineral Springs Hospital in Banff was named the top hospital in the country.
“You’ve got to be happy with that,” said Horner. “To me, it’s more about the outside recognizing what Alberta has and the quality of life that we have.”
Khan too said he didn’t want to comment on the CBC’s methodology.
“As with any evaluation, you never know what’s behind the data they collect,” said Khan. “The one thing this hammers home is that health care is really a Canada-wide challenge, or even a North American or universal challenge. It’s very nice to be recognized but in terms of that challenge, we are doing well in our own backyard.”
