The conditions stated at the hospitals do not apply to HCA Florida Palms West, a trustee tells WPTV.

ROYAL PALM BEACH, FL — WPTV receives word from a member of the Board of Trustees of HCA Florida Palms West Hospital near Royal Palm Beach, a day after we informed you of the concerns raised about HCA hospitals across Florida.

NBC Nightly News report Wednesday cited Florida HCA hospital doctors as saying patient care has suffered from cost cuts, citing unsanitary surgical instruments, an overcrowded emergency room, cockroaches in the operating room, and anesthetist errors that caused patients to wake up during surgery.

Thursday, WPTV heard from patients and nurses in the intensive care unit in southeast Florida, who also expressed concern about staffing and financial cuts leading to a decline in the quality of medical care.

Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay met with WPTV’s Kate Hussey to discuss the issues raised.

McKinley was a member of the board of trustees at HCA Florida Palms West Hospital for about five years, during which time she said she was unaware of any issues like this being raised at the hospital.

“I’ve never had that kind of concern,” McKinley said.

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McKinley said she couldn’t speak for other hospitals, but she was confident in the quality of healthcare in Palms West.

“I hope any issues that come up in Florida West Coast hospitals are addressed, but we don’t have those issues on the East Coast,” McKinley said.

“To all the residents of Palm Beach County, Okeechobee County, Treasure Coast, Broward County who saw this [NBC Nightly News report]and are now wondering, “Is my local HCA hospital safe?” What do you say to that? Hussey asked.

“I would say that HCA is one of the largest healthcare providers in the country and just because one hospital has diseases or problems does not mean that they permeate the entire system,” McKinlay said.

Some of the allegations included both staffing and financial cuts to HCA hospitals on both the Gulf Coast and Florida’s east coast, resulting in a decline in the quality of care. McKinley said that’s not the case at Palms West.

“No, they are not cutting costs, they are actually investing,” McKinley said.

When asked about layoffs, McKinley said that Palms West didn’t do that either.

“No, I would tell you that they have done the opposite, because of the pandemic, healthcare systems are paying more to hire new staff,” she said.

McKinley also said she herself was a patient here on Monday and said she would not recommend the hospital to others that she would not trust herself.

“I can’t explain what’s going on on the west coast, it’s up to the hospital administrator to deal with that. I know that in Palms West we are led by a former firefighter, so I have complete confidence in his skills and the decisions he makes,” McKinley said.

According to the Health Management Agency, Palms West has a 65% hospital consumer score, which is about the average for the state of Florida.

The Leapfrog Group, which evaluates the overall quality and safety of hospitals, gave Palms West an “A” rating. It is the only hospital in Palm Beach County to receive an A rating for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group.

The hospital said Healthgrades has ranked Palms West in the top 10% in the nation for patient safety for the past five years in a row and said it has been recognized with the Healthgrades Excellence in Patient Safety award in 2021 during that time.

The hospital also added that they were recently accredited as the only Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) Robotic Surgery Center of Excellence in Palm Beach County after adhering to rigorous operating room patient safety standards and robotic surgery procedures.

The hospital was also rated 47 out of 187 HCA hospitals in the US for patient safety and its operating room received the HCA Award for Excellence in Surgical Services in 2019.