South County Hospital

The hospital is the flagship facility of South County Health, which also contains VNS Home Health Services (a visiting nurse and home health agency), South County Surgical Supply (home medical supplies), and South County Quality Care (private duty nursing and home care). The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission. The system also operates an urgent care, off-site facility in East Greenwich, RI. South County Hospital Healthcare System employs 1,300 people. ==History==

The hospital was founded in 1919 in a small, private home. A new facility was built in 1925 on with funding primarily from Hazard family members Caroline Hazard and her sister Helen Hazard Bacon. Since then, South County Hospital has grown to a 100-bed facility sprawling over . == Awards and recognition ==

In September 2013, Consumer Reports ranked South County as the best hospital in Rhode Island for surgical care. The ranking was based on the percentage of any hospital's surgery patients who died in the hospital or stayed longer than expected. The list recognizes acute care hospitals whose performance is among the top 25% of nationally measured metrics on composite quality and patient experience. In 2012, South County Hospital became the first New England hospital to receive the Pathway to Excellence designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The hospital collaborates with Johns Hopkins University in the Rhode Island Care Unit Collaborative, a voluntary program focused on improving patient care in the ICU and lowering infections. South County Hospital has an 87% survival rate for patients with sepsis, compared to the national mortality rate of 25–50%. In Jan. 2013, GoLocal ranked South County as the best hospital in New England and Rhode Island based on patient satisfaction. In GoLocal's analysis of more than 50,000 government-sponsored patient surveys in New England, 83% of respondents gave the facility a score of 9 or 10, 76% said they received help as soon as they wanted, and 84% reported the nurses always communicated well with them. ==See also==