All three Winterfield hospitals received an "A" in the summer 2026 national hospital safety grades published this week. It is the fifth consecutive grading cycle in which every Winterfield site has held the top grade.
The grade is built from around thirty measures covering infection rates, surgical complications, medication safety, and the practices a hospital has in place to prevent errors. Roughly a third of hospitals nationally receive an A in any given cycle. Fewer than one system in ten holds it across every site for five cycles running.
Where the improvement came from
Two measures moved most since 2024. Central line infections fell 38 percent across the system, and falls with injury fell 22 percent.
Neither was the result of a new piece of equipment. The central line figure follows a change to how insertion is documented: a checklist that cannot be completed retrospectively, which means it has to be filled in during the procedure or not at all. The falls figure follows a change to handover, where the outgoing nurse names every patient at risk out loud rather than relying on the chart flag.
Safety grades measure the things we already ought to be doing. The grade is useful because it is external, not because it tells us anything we could not have found out ourselves.
Dr. Helena Vasquez, chief quality officerWhere we are not doing well enough
The composite grade hides variation, and two measures did not improve. Communication about medicines, which is patient-reported, has been flat for three cycles. Responsiveness of staff, also patient-reported, went down slightly at one site.
Both are being worked on and neither is close to where it should be. Publishing the grade without publishing those two would be a misleading way to describe the same report.
Summer 2026 grades
- Winterfield Medical Center — A
- Winterfield North Hospital — A
- Winterfield Coastal Hospital — A
- Fifth consecutive cycle with an A at every site.
- Central line infections down 38 percent since 2024; falls with injury down 22 percent.