St John satisfies patients

SURVEY results from a leading national health fund has found patients at St John of God Hospital in Bendigo are among the most satisfied statewide.Medibank Private surveyed more than 6700 people from Victoria on a range of topics related to their hospital stay, including food, accommodation, cleanliness, and the quality of care received.St John of God achieved Victoria’s fourth highest rating of 77 out of 100, above the national average of 70.The survey also found the standards of care delivered by clinical staff was highly regarded with more than 95 per cent of patients rating the skill of their doctors as good or better, and 90 per cent rating the skills and knowledge of nurses as good or better.Medibank Private chief executive officer of Private Health Insurance Bruce Levy said the news was good for local hospital users.“The survey has returned some terrific results for some of our partner hospitals across Victoria, and for St John of God in particular,” he said.“In general private patients are satisfied with their hospital experience, which means private hospitals are doing many things right.”Mr levy said it was pleasing to see smaller hospitals doing well.“The survey reveals that across Victoria the hospitals that are performing best in terms of patient satisfaction are not the big, well known inner-Melbourne hospitals, but smaller hospitals in suburbs and regional centres,” he said.Mr Levy said there were always areas where hospitals could do more to meet patient expectations.