The death rate after major surgery in Northern Health hospitals has improved since 2021-22, a spokesperson for the health authority says.
Northern Health saw 58.8 per cent more hospital deaths following major surgery in 2021-22 than the provincial percentage and 49 per cent more than the national average, according to a report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
The data showed that the Dawson Creek & District Hospital had the highest rate of hospital deaths after major surgery in Northern Health at 5.3 per cent, while the University Hospital of Northern BC located in Prince George had a rate of 3.6 per cent during that time period.
“So our statistic folks have taken a look at the more current 2022-2023 data that indicates that post-surgical mortality has dropped from the 2021-2022 numbers that CIHI has recorded and it’s returning closer to the numbers seen prior to the pandemic,” the spokesperson said. “So regionally, for Northern Health, including UHNBC and Dawson Creek, those all have appeared to have fluctuated within normal range historically. UHNBC and Dawson Creek demonstrated those above-average levels uniquely in 2021-2022.”
The Citizen could not verify the 2022-23 data as it is not publicly available at this time.
The Northern Health spokesperson also pointed to a poorer health status of the Northern B.C. population, which could have affected the 2021-2022 results.
COVID-19 was also having its greatest impact in the region during that time period.
“There were relatively high rates of COVID-19 infections, and hospital admissions and critical care needs,” the spokesperson explained.
Northern Health looks at long-term statistical trends that would indicate ongoing problems, rather than reacting to short-term results.
“So when we are looking at a single data point, like a single year, it can be somewhat informative but we run into some challenges around the context," the spokesperson said. "There are smaller, rural or northern sites with lower volumes of whatever indicator we’re talking about, in this case, mortality post surgery, but those lower volumes of cases can lead to much wider year-to-year fluctuations so a small number of cases either way can mean the difference between a normal or an unusual result.”
