The Westerly Hospital meets or exceeds the expectations of patients and their families better than 97 percent of similar hospitals in the country.

A bold statement? Yes, but a true statement and one that comes from patients and their families and measured not by the hospital but by an objective, third party - a company that measures patient satisfaction across the country based on anonymous surveys submitted by patients.

Hospitals have been measuring their care through a variety of methods through the decades, but in the past five years or so the issue has come to the forefront of national healthcare improvement efforts. The measurement of patient satisfaction, therefore, has become more standardized and objective, with survey experts handling the data.

What does that 97 percent really mean for patients of The Westerly Hospital?

First of all it means that of the 876 hospitals in the country that are similar in size and services to The Westerly Hospital, we are in the top 3 percent of that group nationwide when it comes to meeting or exceeding the expectations of patients and families.

It means that the nurses who provide the care, the physicians who do the procedures, the housekeeping staff that makes the floors shine, the food service workers who prepare the food, and a whole host of others who work at The Westerly Hospital do their jobs exceedingly well.

It means that on the clinical side, the nurses and technologists who provide the hands-on care are doing their best to keep patients and families informed of the care they are providing.

It means that on the non-clinical side, the clerks and service personnel are mindful of treating patients with courtesy and respect regardless of how busy they might be at that moment.

And it means the physicians are providing not just skilled care, but skilled care that is delivered with compassion.

The measurement comes from surveys mailed randomly every two weeks to patients by a national company - Press Ganey - that specializes in measuring perceptions of care. These anonymous surveys are mailed back to Press Ganey where the results are compiled quarterly for each hospital that voluntarily participates in this kind of measurement.

Most hospitals participate in surveys that measure their patients’ perception of care so they know where to focus improvement efforts. In 2007, Medicare will publicly report the results of patient satisfaction surveys for all hospitals. The Westerly Hospital has a history of commitment to patient satisfaction and participated in the pilot testing of the new Medicare survey tool.

At The Westerly Hospital, we’ve been providing care that is ranked in the top 10 percent of the nation for some time. We’ve been in the top 3 percent since August. One year ago we were in the 88 th percentile – the top 12 percent. Pretty good, but we didn’t feel it was good enough and we worked to make improvements that resulted in the improved results.

We’ve made steady progress and we are committed to maintaining this kind of performance. It’s great for morale. It’s great for the community. We strive to be the hospital you want and you deserve.