Government Moves to Eliminate On-call services at Hospital

Health Minister the Hon Julius Timothy says a decision by government to appoint an additional 100 nurses will effectively address the staffing issues at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and ensure that there are no on-call services at the the state hospital.

Timothy was responding to public concerns that the slow response time of the emergency and trauma services at the hospital may have been responsible for the recent spike in the deaths of accident victims at the hospital.

Grace Joseph’s death, some three hours after she was admitted to the ward following a late night accident last Friday on the Les Pointe public road, sparked widespread public debate about the state of the health system in Dominica and in particular the emergency response unit.

Aside from what critiques described as the ‘slow’ and ‘unprofessional’ response of the Fire and Ambulance Services and the Casualty Unit, it has been alleged that the attending physician could not pull together his theater team in a timely manner since the staff was on-call.

The Health Minister conceded that “our normal scheduling time is a little slow” but confirmed that steps were afoot to address the problem. “We have taken the decision to put in 100 nurses so that a lot of the people will no longer be on call but that these services will be there available at the hospital” he said.

Staffing in a number of departments including the Operating Theater, Intensive Care Unit, Hemodialysis Unit and the Hypobaric Chamber, will be strengthened as a result of the decision.

Full-time nursing support will also be made available to the State Prison, Home for the Aged, and the Health Promotion Unit and related services. The beefed up nursing stock will also allow for home visits.

Last week, in his report on the government’s first 100 days in office, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit informed the nation that “100 new nursing positions, intended to fill gaps within the health system that were critical for the optimum delivery of nursing care” were created.

Minister Timothy also informed the nation that as part of ongoing efforts to address the shortcomings of the health system, his Ministry was in the process “getting more of our doctors specialized” as well.