Majority happy with health care: survey
By JASON WARICK
SASKATOON — Over 90 per cent of Saskatchewan and Manitoba residents who used the health care system in the past year said they were satisfied with the service, according to a national survey released Monday.
The survey of over 2,400 Canadians was included in the publication Health Insider, compiled by author Dale McMurchy for Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
Nationally, 92 per cent of health services users said they were satisfied. Of the 426 people surveyed in the region of Saskatchewan Manitoba, the result was nearly the same, registering 91.5 per cent satisfaction.
"We often hear about the worst case scenarios, (but) people are generally satisfied with their care," McMurchy said.
She and other Pricewaterhouse Coopers officials cautioned that the survey was done before the flu season, which overwhelmed many emergency rooms across the country. They say that may have affected satisfaction rates.
Allen Backman, a health care administration professor at the University of Saskatchewan said this high satisfaction rate is consistent with other studies he*s seen.
"People who encounter the health care system are generally very satisfied with it," Backman said.
He said part of the reason for the result could be that people have come to expect the worst from the health care system because of all the negative things they’ve heard. When they get even average service, they may be happier than if their expectations were higher. Nationally, 1.8 per cent of respondents said they were "very dissatisfied" with their care, compared with 1.4 per cent in Saskatchewan /Manitoba.
McMurchy and Blackman agree that these cases can be very serious and officials should work to improve things. But Backman said there will always be people angry with the system.
"When the system fails you, it really fails you. But it doesn*t happen as much as people think," Backman said.
"People are always going to be dying. That*s just part of health care.
"The fact of the matter is we have a pretty good system."