The South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) says it has implemented a number of measures aimed at reducing delays being experienced by patients at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine.

In a statement this afternoon, SERHA Board Chairman, Dr Andrei Cooke, said 14 nurses have been assigned to the Accident and Emergency Department to care for patients who are waiting to be admitted to a ward.

Cooke also said steps are being taken to assign additional doctors to work in the department.

Additionally, he said 11 more beds have been placed on two wards and four more stretchers have been placed at the hospital.

Cooke said 200 chairs have been distributed to the various waiting areas and additional bassinets, cots and cribs have been placed on the Paediatric Ward.

The SERHA chairman said, going forward, a triage area with a roving triage nurse will be established at the Spanish Town hospital.

He explained that this nurse will closely monitor patients in the waiting area of the Accident and Emergency Department.

Cooke says in the interim, a roving nurse has been assigned to the receptionist desk to monitor patients while they wait to see the doctor.

The new measures at the Spanish Town Hospital come weeks after patients died at the facility while waiting to receive medical attention.

Meanwhile, the SERHA chairman says steps have been taken to increase the staff complement in other facilities such as the Kingston Public and Victoria Jubilee hospitals as well as the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

Cooke said the authorities continues to assess the quality of health care delivery in all its facilities and will implement additional measures to deal with the delays where necessary.

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