The tip of the iceberg of problems at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System was revealed to the public in
"Internal reviews rank Puget Sound VA health system low in quality", an article in the Seattle Times September 8, 2013.
In it, reporter Hal Bernton described some of the issues that Veterans and Friends have been talking about all year - safety violations, failure to provide proper equipment to staff, retaliation against employees who insist on quality work, and so on. The article didn't go into a lot of detail and confined itself pretty much to the content of official reviews and a few quotes. but those reviews are damning enough: the hospital, which used to be among the top 10 in the VA system, now gets one star out of five, making it at the bottom!
The official response to these ratings is equally shocking. Rather than frankly admit there's a problem, "I am proud" says one official.
There is also mention that the hospital got 3 out of 5 stars for "efficiency". That means that the hospital may be delivering one-star care, but it's doing it cheaply!
There is absolutely no reason that this hospital should not be earning five star ratings, but it will not be possible to improve without a frank admission of the problem. You cannot fix what you don't realize is broken.
Read the whole article, then decide for yourself whether this is acceptible.
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