Spanish Town Hospital full

The South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) has admitted that potential patients are facing long delays before being admitted to the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine.

According to SERHA, this is because the bed capacity at the hospital is now oversubscribed.

Lyttleton 'Tanny' Shirley, chairman of SERHA said while the hospital has been experiencing an increase in its patient load, strategies have been employed to deal with the delays.

"We are working to address this problem in short order. The hospital has a bed capacity of 340 and so, a bed manager has been assigned with the task of ensuring the effective utilisation of all bed space," said Shirley.

Speciality care

Some patients with chronic illnesses will be transferred to the Linstead Hospital, while patients requiring speciality care will be transferred to the respective specialist hospitals in the region where possible," added Shirley.

"We will also be transferring our social cases, which are patients that have been discharged but have nowhere to go, to the Linstead Hospital."

Shirley said all patients are encouraged to cooperate with the staff as they work to remedy the delays.

"The public is also urged to utilise neighbouring health centres for non-critical medical conditions to ease the burden on the Spanish Town Hospital. There are 27 health centres in St Catherine," said Shirley.