Ministry still awaiting legal advice on action against relatives of social patients
Published:Thursday | February 16, 2023 | 1:09 AMMark Titus/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The Ministry of Health is awaiting advice from the Attorney General’s Chambers on whether civil action can be taken against people who have abandoned their relatives at public hospitals.
“We have sought the advice of the attorney general, and we are waiting on them to give us a response to determine the approach,” Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton told The Gleaner on Wednesday. “We want to ensure that we can hold these relatives responsible.
“Either way, the issue of social cases continues to be a real challenge, and how we have been trying to deal with it is to transition, where we can, into the infirmaries, but the truth is as you move them out, they come back in, so it is a real and constant challenge.”
In December 2021, there were just over 200 persons who had been discharged still staying at hospitals as their relatives had not picked them up, some abandoned for several years.
Referred to as social patients, it costs the Government approximately $408.6 million annually to care for these people. This cost includes remuneration for nurses, medical doctors, social workers, nursing assistants, medication, accommodation, meals, toiletries, and personal care.
The long-standing problem was further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with pressure bearing on the Government to find a solution with the country’s health facilities bursting at their seams.
While neither Tufton nor Permanent Secretary Dunstan Bryan was able to provide an updated national figure yesterday, the problem remains a major challenge at hospitals in western Jamaica.
“This morning (Wednesday), I have 324 patients at Cornwall Regional Hospital, and of that amount, I have a total of 32 social cases,” said Dr Delroy Fray, clinical coordinator of the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA). “We run a capacity of 354 beds, and with current occupancy, along with those in A&E (Accident and Emergency Unit) waiting, but 32 of our beds are occupied by social cases.”
“We know that we want more bed space, and we are working towards that, but until then, we want to utilise what we have as effectively as we can,” he continued. “But one of the things we would want to see is the removal of social cases from the hospital because they don’t need to be here.”
“The problem is so bad that we created a ward at the Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny, with a capacity of 35 that we care for,” he added. “This is a type A facility that deals with acute care and takes referrals from smaller hospitals, so we cannot operate in that way because we are wasting resources.”
The Falmouth Hospital has been home to the longest social patient, 50-year-old Dennis Green, who was admitted in 2009 after being paralysed after falling from a tree. His stay at the hospital was calculated at $3,000 daily just over a year ago, totalling more than $13 million.
Falmouth Hospital CEO Princess Wedderburn yesterday said they have now managed to relocate Green and a few others to the nearby infirmary, reducing the number of social patients at the facility to five.
Among the factors for abandonment are the inability of relatives to care for special conditions; stigma associated with HIV/AIDS; mental-health concerns; and financial challenges, a ministry audit revealed.
Numerous attempts to reach Camille Lewin, CEO of the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, also failed, but one year ago, that facility had 15 social cases.
At the Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, Hanover, nine social-care patients are now on the books, one more than a year ago.
“Most have been here in excess of five years, and when you put it into perspective, for a 50-bed hospital to have nine of your beds occupied by social patients, that is a really significant number and a huge burden on our resources,” CEO Carlington McLennon said on Wednesday.