Bellevue gets an 'F' - Health inspector says conditions at Bellevue unsatisfactory

Tyrone Reid, Senior Staff Reporter

Just 12 days ago, the Bellevue Hospital was given an unsatisfactory grade by the Kingston and St Andrew (KSA) Public Health Department.

A copy of the institutional health inspection form used to grade Jamaica's only hospital dedicated to the mentally ill showed that the hospital failed the health inspection and was given zeros in a number of areas - some of them considered critical.

The document provided by the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) is used by public-health inspectors to grade hospitals, infirmaries, nursing homes, day-care centres, training schools, prisons, police stations, lockups and places of safety.

The health inspector gave the Bellevue Hospital zero for the presence of pests, dirt on walls, floors and ceilings.

During the reinspection, which was conducted on January 17, the health inspector also found the Windward Road-based facility's food storage, kitchen and food-handling practices were also unsatisfactory.

Accommodation

The health inspector also concluded that Bellevue's compound was not properly protected from stray animals and that the drainage system needed improvement.

The hospital was also found wanting in the balance for the "veterinary certification of pets".

Bellevue, which has "the legal responsibility to accept all persons needing psychiatric care", can currently accommodate a maximum of 800 patients.

Late last year, the SERHA confirmed that the hospital was fully booked, which forced the hospital's management to occasionally direct potential patients to general hospitals such as the Kingston Public and Spanish Town hospitals that can accommodate psychiatric inpatients.

The Bellevue Hospital, situated on 123 acres of land, was built for custodial care before antipsychotic medications were available. At its birth, the hospital was designed to accommodate nearly 3,000 patients. That number was reduced to 1,500 in 1990, and then to 800.

The hospital came into existence as a separate institution for the care and treatment of mental disease in 1861. However, prior to that, it was connected to the nation's high seat of medicine - the Kingston Public Hospital - and was known as the Jamaica Lunatic Asylum.

According to the document, the Bellevue Hospital has been flagged for a follow-up inspection.

It appears that some of the shortcomings highlighted in the previous inspection were being addressed by the hospital because the inspector commented that the "roof had been repaired" and that the "reinstallation of the fly-proof mesh is being done".

The health inspector also noted that the wrong floor tiles were procured and the hospital had reordered the correct ones. In addition, the ceiling was to be painted and missing wall tiles were to be replaced.

"The equipment for the hand wash stations have been ordered and awaiting delivery," the health inspector noted.

Following our investigation, Daniel Dobson, CEO of the hospital wrote to The Gleaner complaining bitterly about The Sunday Gleaner's probe and attempted to block use of the photographs snapped during the investigation.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com