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Interior Health hospitals middle of pack

Image Credit: COMPILATION

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - People in the Interior are more likely than other Canadians to drink heavily but they are also more likely to be active, according to recent statistics for the Interior Health Authority that ranked the region in the middle of the pack across the country.

A new website compares hospitals, health regions, provinces and territories in 37 different indicators, from access to quality of care and patient safety to emerging health trends. It uses data from across Canada over several years in the analysis.

According to the Canadian Institute for Healthy Information, 85.9 per cent of people in the Interior Health region report having a regular medical doctor, better than the average in B.C. and Canada, both at 84.5 per cent. 

While a higher percentage of people are heavy drinkers in the health region, a significant amount are also into physical activity during leisure time—65.1 per cent compared to the Canadian average of 55.2 per cent. Fewer people are also obese (17.5 per cent) or smokers (18.4 per cent) in the region than the Canadian averages (18.8 per cent and 19.3 per cent) though the Interior falls behind the B.C. averages in both those categories (15 per cent and 16.2 per cent.)

The site shows the following statistics for health facilities in the Thompson-Okanagan:

Facility - Patients - Beds
Kelowna General Hospital - 20,988 - 303 
Royal Inland Hospital - 13,372 -159 
Vernon Jubilee Hospital - 10,452 - 131 
Penticton Regional Hospital - 8,111 - 106       

Facility - Patients readmitted*
Kelowna General Hospital - 9.1%
Royal Inland Hospital - 9.5%
Vernon Jubilee Hospital - 10.6%
Penticton Regional Hospital - 9.6%
Interior Health Authority - 9.5%
British Columbia - 9.4%
Canada - 8.8%
*Urgently readmitted to hospital within 30 days of discharge

Facility - Hospital deaths
Kelowna General Hospital - 77
Royal Inland Hospital - 80
Vernon Jubilee Hospital - 89
Penticton Regional Hospital - n/a
Interior Health Authority - 79
British Columbia - 85
Canada - 89

Facility - Cost per stay**
Kelowna General Hospital - $5,772 (increasing more than average)
Royal Inland Hospital - $5,273 (increasing more than average)
Vernon Jubilee Hospital - $5,604 (increasing more than average)
Penticton Regional Hospital - $4,778 (increasing less than average)
Interior Health Authority - $5,538 (increasing more than average)
British Columbia - $5,517
Canada - $5,567
**Cost per patient stay in an acute care hospital

Interior Health is also higher than the provincial and national averages for deaths that could have potentially been avoided with better prevention or care with 184 per 100,000 but is better when it comes to in-hospital sepsis (blood infection) cases with 2.6 per 1,000, compared to 4.7 per 1,000 for B.C. and 4.4 per 1,000 for Canada.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information plans to release similar data for long-term care facilities in 2015.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2014
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