Members of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services (PSCSS) of the National Assembly yesterday visited the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and received a host of complaints from patients who had been waiting there for long hours.
The PSCSS members were there to observe the operational procedures at the Admissions Centre in order to obtain an idea of the average time an outpatient waits before s/he is attended to by a doctor.
The group’s visit commenced at approximately 10.15 am yesterday and included Committee Chair and PNCR-1G MP Amna Ally, PNCR-1G MPs Volda Lawrence and Cheryl Sampson; PPP/C MPs, Philomena Sahoye-Shury, Shirley Edwards and Albert Atkinson and AFC MP Latchmin Budhan-Punalall.
The committee first met patients at the Admissions Centre and then Director of Nursing Audrey Corry and Junior Departmental Supervisor Denise Marks. Marks told the committee that there are usually two nurses working in the Admissions Unit on each shift. The shifts run daily from 7 am to 3 pm; 1 pm to 9 pm and 8.30 pm to 7.15 am; the overlapping time being for change of shift procedures. Marks said there are usually two registered nurses (RN) in the unit who screen the condition of incoming patients by their general disposition. In addition to the expression on faces of patients, Marks said, the RNs would assess whether the patient is experiencing difficulty breathing, or may have sustained serious injuries.
When asked by Committee Chair Ally how long patients usually spend in the waiting area, Marks said approximately one and a half to two hours. However, a few persons in the waiting area told the group that they had been waiting for as long as four hours. Some related that they have been visiting the hospital on a number of occasions and have encountered waiting times in excess of three hours.
Ally related to the group that as recent as Thursday, she was informed by a member of the public, who had taken her son to seek medical attention at the hospital that day that she had waited at the unit for a number of hours before been attended to by a doctor. Ally, along with other members of the group questioned whether there was a shortage of staff at the hospital. Marks said ideally there should be four RNs in the unit on a shift.
As members of the committee interacted with patients, a middle-aged woman was heard moaning and complained of stomach aches. The woman displayed a swollen left leg and she told members of the committee that she was in severe pain. A female relative of the woman said that the patient lives at Diamond on the East Bank Demerara and had sought medical attention at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre early yesterday. The woman said she was referred to the GPH early yesterday morning and had been waiting for a number of hours.
Waiting long
periods
Other patients voiced complaints about the long periods they had been waiting at the unit. One woman said she had been waiting with her son, who had sustained an injury to his foot, for over an hour. She told the group her son was bitten on his left leg yesterday morning. She could not say what might have bitten him, but she noted that his foot was swollen and he was experiencing a fever.
PPP MP Atkinson enquired from the officials at the unit about the operational procedures in relation to patients who are transferred from hospitals at remote locations. The supervisor said patients are transferred via aircraft/boat and ambulance from those locations. However, she said the GPH relied on a message from those areas when patients are being transferred. She said if a message was not received in a timely manner, the Admissions Unit usually encounters a few problems.
The committee then visited the Pharmaceutical Department and encountered similar comments from patients relating to long waiting periods. An elderly patient said that he had been waiting his turn in the line when he noticed a few persons, who had not been in the line, being attended to before him. As he bitterly complained to the committee, one of the staff explained that the numbering system at the pharmacy was sometimes compromised. She said doctors would refer patients to the pharmacy and those patients would tend to bypass others waiting in the line.
Sahoye-Shury said there may be a problem with the numbering system as she listened to comments from a few other patients.
At the Medical Outpatient Department (MOPD) there were long lines of persons waiting to be attended to, who complained bitterly. One patient related that she was told to wait in the line. However, she said, she noticed that person’s names were being recorded and they were attended to in conformity with that list. The committee members informed the patient that her name should first be recorded on a list when she approaches the institution for attention.
Asked to comment after the visit, Ally told the media that the group had received lots of complaints from patients with various ailments.
She said there were a few grey areas within the Admissions Unit which needed to be addressed and she noted that there was not a numbering system in place at that unit during her visit even though she was informed that one is usually in place. Ally said the purpose of visit by the group was to observe operations at the Admissions and Medical Outpatient Departments.
Sahoye-Shury said that there was a system in place at the departments visited, but deficiencies were evident in a few areas. She singled out two children who were awaiting medical assistance at the Admissions Unit and noted that children should be prioritized for medical attention. She said shortcomings at the institution are expected since a large number of persons visit the hospital for attention every day. The MP highlighted that doctors need to be expeditious in attending to patients, but said the institution “appears to be short of staff”.
The committee will meet at a later date with Ministry of Health officials to discuss its findings and make recommendations.
