Thunder Bay hospital earns C-rating in CBC report

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre scores lower than the national average, receiving an overall "C" grade, in a national report card released this morning by CBC News.

Read:CBC rates 10 hospitals best in Canada

The rating is based on data about more than 600 hospitals published by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

The report card said Thunder Bay Regional reports more deaths after surgery than an average Canadian hospital of the same size. It alsore-admits "substantially" more patients after medicaltreatment or surgery.

Other ratings show TBRHSCwithBfor the number of patients who develop problems that are connected to nursing care such as pneumonia, broken bones,urinary tract infections and bed sores. Studies show a strong link between these issues and low nurse staffing levels.

Thereport gives the HSC a D for the number of patients who are readmitted within 30 days after discharge.

Officials at the hospital said say they need more information before they can comment on the CBC report.

"At this point the information is a little bit generic, so we do look forward to reviewing the content in more depth," said spokesperson Tracie Smith.

"Reports like these ones, they do provide an opportunity for us to identify our strengths as well as areas for improvement."

Smith added the hospital sees itself as an "accountable"organization.

In other results, the CBC report shows 74 per centof the hospital's staff comply with hand hygiene. That's lower than the median compliance rate of 86 per centin Canada.

Handwashing is considered the most important way to reduce the spread of hospital-acquired infections.

The HSC receives credit for the fact nearly one third of its patient rooms are single-bed rooms.

Twenty-five per centis typical among the hospitals the CBC assessed.

Readers cancheck out the report card resultsfor Thunder Bay Regional and other hospitals in the northwest.

An interactiveonline tool is also availableto rate your own hospital experiences.