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Volume 7 Issue 1
Serving Perth-Andover to Nackawic-Millville MA
Y YEA ORS R EN INTE RVIE D INSI WS DE
RIVER VALLEY SUN December January2024 2025
FREE ACCESS TO DAILY NEWS @ rivervalleysun.ca
URVH received 157 complaints about health care delivery since 2020 Right to Information request reveals four years of patient and family concerns By Judy Cole
T
he Upper River Valley Hospital (URVH) in Waterville has received 157 complaints about the delivery of health care at the facility in the past four years. Under a Right to Information Request (RTI) filed by the River Valley Sun, Horizon Health Network released its record of complaints related to care at the URVH from 2020 to 2024. There were 37 complaints about the hospital emergency department between 2020 and 2022. Within that number, 24 pointed to problems with quality of care or wait time. Eight complaints were about the behaviour and attitude of staff, including medical and nursing staff. Three complaints were about hospital policy on visitation and wearing masks during the pandemic. There was one complaint about communication and confidentiality, while one patient visiting emergency was critical about their expectations not being met. Horizon Health records indicate all of the complaints were handled internally by the head of the emergency department, an attending physician, a nurse
manager, an executive and administrative director or a facility manager. Another 13 complaints were filed between 2020 and 2022 about various other departments in the hospital, again mostly about quality of care and staff behaviour and attitude. “Feedback and concerns are addressed on an individual basis and assigned to different levels of leadership, depending on the patient/ families’ expectations,” said Janice Melanson, access to information coordinator for Horizon Health. “In all cases, the manager or the administrative director, or the chief of staff is made aware.” Melanson explained that several actions can be taken to resolve a complaint, including interviewing the staff member involved, reviewing documentation, peer evaluation, mentoring, staff education, and ongoing monitoring of care. “Changes resulting from concerns or feedback are dependent on each case and each department. Each case gives Horizon an opportunity to serve future patients and families better and provide con-
ciliatory closure with previous patients and families through transparent communications.” Laura Russell of Canterbury disagrees. She has been waiting nine months for her concerns about URVH to be resolved and says communication with healthcare officials has been less than transparent. After the death of her loved one at URVH in April of 2024, she confronted hospital staff, wrote letters, and contacted the provincial Department of Health to request a review of medical care being delivered in Waterville. In August, Russell met with a patient advocate with Horizon Health in Fredericton to discuss her concerns but received no reply despite her follow-up calls and emails. In October, Russell wrote to Margaret Melanson, the president and chief executive officer for Horizon Health, again with no reply. She noted Melanson was the patient advocate she met with in August. “There are questions to be answered and issues to be addressed about the de-
A River Valley Sun Right to Information request to Horizon Health Network revealed 157 complaints about health care delivery at the Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville. (Stephen Chisholm photo)
livery of healthcare in Waterville,” Russell said. “I have been unable to get any answers.” Most of all, Russell wants to see the results of a CAT scan given to her loved one, whom she was told had terminal cancer. She acknowledged she was not named next-of-kin on his medical file, but she had written consent from the next-of-kin to be informed. Between 2022 and 2024, records show URVH received 107 complaints, 62 of which were about the emergency department. See URVH on pg. 2