Novant Health NHRMC leaders respond to rally calling for better hospital care

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Hospital leaders with Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center responded to allegations made during a rally on Tuesday, in which attendees demanded a higher standard of care.

Hospital leaders said they were partially aware of the rally and the organization that organized it, the 5 Star Hospital Project.

Attendees at Tuesday’s Rally for Better Hospital Care in downtown Wilmington called for better service and care at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

Organizer and retired doctor Jon Martell spoke about a variety of issues he saw during a stay there.

“I was left in shock for 3 and a half hours before they got me back to the operating room,” Martell said. “Cleanliness issues, I never got one shower in the 5 days I was in the hospital.”

WWAY reached out to the hospital with questions about some of those concerns.

Laurie Whalin is the president of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

She said some issues came about due to the change in leadership.

“Then we had, you know, the massive integration of the two organizations and that we transparently had bumps in the road, you know, particularly in 2022 and 2023,” Whalen said. “It’s not to make excuses for it, it is what it is. There is absolutely nothing we can do to go back at this point to correct those issues.”

Another concern several people spoke about during the rally was the need to travel hours away from home to get proper treatment.

Whalin explained that some medical issues, like burns, can’t be treated at the hospital.

But Heather Davis, the hospital’s Chief Clinical Officer, said since Novant Health took over, there have been improvements.

“The, the, you know, interventional procedures in cardiology, neurology,” Davis said. “All of these things that allow patients to stay here and close to home and just receive incredible care. We’ve seen improvements across the board in the metrics from CMS and Leapfrog for a variety of outcomes. We continue to see this improvement over the past year, year and a half.”

Whalin said other issues, like the hospital’s Medicare.gov rating, are based on older data, and more recent information shows how the hospital is working to improve care for patients.

WWAY also asked about issues people have said they’ve dealt with in the ER at NHRMC, including people lying on beds in the hallways.

“What we share with the community is it’s really not an emergency department issue, it’s really an in-patient bed capacity issue,” Whalin explained. “So we have patients who are waiting to be admitted, and this hospital is full every single day. So most hospitals, you want to keep them like 80-85% full so that you get flow. Our hospital is 95-99% full every day.”

She said that a new hospital at Scott’s Hill, set to open next June, will add 78 beds, which will help with some of the capacity issues.

Whalen added that Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center plans to improve from a level 2 trauma care center to a level 1 center in the next two years, so people can be treated there rather than be sent to other locations like Chapel Hill.

Below is the full interview with Heather Davis and Laurie Whalin: