South County Hospital scores an “A” for safety

Local hospital continues to rate among the highest in the region

Westerly Hospital is ranked among the lowest

By Will Collette

Annual scores for hospitals rated on patient safety show that while all the state’s hospitals received passing grades, only three were rated “A.”

Among the elite group is South County Hospital, along with Kent County and Landmark in Woonsocket.

Westerly Hospital scored a “C,” placing in the lowest tier in the review along with Roger Williams, Rhode Island Hospital and Our Lady of Fatima.

Hospitals could have been given failing grades of “D” and “F” but none of the state’s hospitals scored that low.

Hospitals are scored on more than 30 factors such as preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections, especially central line or catheter infections, MRSA, facility-wide diarrhea events and infections from colon surgery. Effective patient communication and education are also important judging considerations.

These annual safety reviews are conducted by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog group.

Their report is entitled Spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades. 

On April 22, I reported that Medicare also ranked South County Hospital as the best among all hospitals within 50 miles of Charlestown. 

It's also worth noting that South County is one of the only independent hospitals in the region while nearly every other hospital claims it needs to be part of a medical conglomerate in order to survive and provide good health care.