Tamara Private Hospital in regional New South Wales has topped the list of Australia's best private hospitals, rated by patients in the nation's most comprehensive survey of patient satisfaction conducted by Medibank Private.
Tamara Private Hospital in North Tamworth was named the best Australian private hospital for patient satisfaction, followed by Glenferrie Private Hospital in Victoria which shared the National Silver Award with Sportsmed - SA Hospital. The top honours also mean that Tamara Private received the awards for top Australian Regional and the top New South Wales private hospital.
Tamara Private CEO Annette Arthur said the hospital was delighted to receive this recognition from patients.
"These awards are testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff at Tamara," Ms Arthur said.
"Every member of staff at Tamara works with one important goal in mind - the delivery of exceptional care. It's fantastic to hear that we have achieved this and it's great that this dedication has been recognised and rewarded."
Medibank Private's Hospital Experience Survey analysed 17,322 responses covering 140 private hospitals in the largest and most authoritative survey of its type in Australia. The Survey covers every stage of the hospital experience, from pre-admission to discharge and follow-up, with respondents sharing their thoughts on everything from the standard of medical treatment provided to privacy levels, cleanliness and food quality.
Medibank Group Executive, Provider Relations, Cindy Shay, said the Survey results provide an accurate insight into the experience of most private hospital patients.
"The Survey results indicate that, overall, Australians are very satisfied with the standard of care provided in the private health system. This is important because people who take out private health insurance want to know they'll have access to high quality services that suit their individual needs. This Survey shows private hospitals are delivering this.
"In addition to the national and state rankings, we have prepared detailed reports for each of our provider hospitals showing the areas where patients said they were doing well and areas where improvements could be made." Ms Shay said.
Across the whole Survey, responses showed high levels of satisfaction with the standard of communication from hospital staff, an important aspect when many people are going through a challenging experience which may not be familiar to them. However, discharge and follow up was voted the least satisfactory index in the Survey, indicating that the patient experience continues after leaving hospital, and appropriate focus need to be given to this.