I disagree completely with the satisfactory inspection score...VA termed it "high marks"...given the Salisbury NC VA Medical Center by a hospital accreditation commission. I'm a former health services administrator so perhaps I was more critical, but I' prefer not to seek care at Salsbury if I could find it elsewhere.
“We are continually striving to provide the best care we possibly can to our Veterans, and we take that obligation and privilege to heart,” stated Salisbury administrators. However, in my visits to that hospital I've seen little to prove it.
My observations:
• a six-hour wait in the Emergency Department for a simple request for prescription refills
• a television in the ED showing nothing but white noise
• hard plastic chairs in the ED, providing very uncomfortable seating for patients having to wait so long to see a physician
• a physician I met stated the services at Salisbury seemed of a lower quality than other North Carolina VA hospitals and suggested it reflected the VA disregard for this facility which I understood to have the state's highest percentage of minority patients
• no refreshments, other than discount colas behind a steel bar security barrier, priced at $1.50/can
• no books or magazines in the ED
• no patient transportation between far-flung buildings
• a patient canteen open only limited hours, and a long walk from most other buildings
• a very worn and tired appearance, older buildings, poor landscaping
• I saw no volunteer services, but such services may have been offered in other areas I didn't visit
• I saw patients in the ED who'd waited hours, and who decided to instead carpool to the Asheville VA hospital (about two hours away) expecting they'd be seen earlier at that better VA hospital
• I couldn't find a cup of coffee, nor could I find the veterans service organizations I needed to visit
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