More customer service training for St Ann’s Bay Hospital staff
Lab now ISO 15189 certified
Published:Tuesday | June 14, 2022 | 12:06 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
Health Minister Christopher Tufton said there will be additional customer-service training for the staff at the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital in St Ann.
Speaking Friday after a tour of the hospital, Tufton said customer service at hospitals is an issue that has been discussed.
“Customer service is another big issue that we have discussed,” Tufton said. “The ministry’s position is that we have to enhance customer care in our hospitals. Here at St Ann’s Bay, we will be embarking on additional training. We will be looking at areas where people wait, and we will be looking to enhance those areas.”
The hospital has long been criticised for its allegedly poor service delivery to clients. The North East Regional Health Authority is currently investigating a client’s complaint that was posted on Facebook alleging neglect and unprofessional conduct of staff on duty. Tufton did not speak to the incident.
But he stated that the hospital would be expanded over the next year or two to facilitate the growing number of clients using the facility.
“We are completing the designs as we speak to add additional space because we recognise that this is an area that is pressured by increasing development, more housing, more traffic, more tourists, and also, we need a functioning institution to deal with healthcare,” Tufton stated.
He also appealed to Jamaicans to change how they live in order to ease the strain on the health facility, noting the increase in trauma cases caused by bike and motor vehicle accidents, gunshot wounds, and stab wounds, which he said are “totally avoidable”.
The minister also hailed the achievement of the hospital’s laboratory, which has been ISO 15189 certified, noting that it is the only publicly owned lab to achieve such certification outside of the National Public Health Lab in Kingston.
The international certification means that the lab has proven that it is dedicated to delivering proficient and quality service across all aspects of its operation.
Chief medical technologist Craig Ricketts said the certification was as a result of six years of hard work highlighted by good leadership and teamwork.
“What that (certification) means is that the lab is operating at international standards,” Ricketts said. “ISO 15189 standard, basically, governs the competence and quality of a lab so all standard operating procedures of the lab are at international standards,” he added.
Ricketts said all processes are standardised as there is a total management system at the lab to ensure that customer expectations are met or exceeded.
Ricketts paid tribute to the team of 17 -made up of 10 medical technical technologists, six technical assistants, and a secretary - highlighting the works of his supervisor, Dorrett Martin, and CDC mentor Kerine Hay.