Public health confidence worrying, says Tufton

In a letter to the editors, the health minister expressed confidence in health professionals in the system but contends he has “long been concerned that we need to work more on administering clinical services with a greater sense of empathy and compassion”.

Dr Tufton’s missive comes against the background in which the health system or personnel came under heavy criticism from the public.

Most recently a pregnant mother shared her story first with the Jamaica Observer in which she alleged receiving inhumane treatment at the Spanish Town Hospital. The matter is now a subject of a high-level investigation after the mother claimed she was allowed to give birth in the open area of the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department without any help from nurses.

A nursing assistant is now the centre of a police probe following allegations of sexually molesting a 15-year-old female patient. The incident occurred two weeks ago at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, Hanover.

These and other incidents, Dr Tufton said has caused him to be “very concerned”.

“While I believe in due process and so have asked the regional health authorities and specific health institutions to investigate each incident to determine cause and/or culpability, I am concerned about the deaths, pain and suffering to Jamaicans and their families, and friends from these issues and the physiological impact on our society as a whole,” the minister stated.

“As public health, we can only be effective in responding to health challenges if the people we serve have confidence in us to perform with professionalism and empathy, and in their best interests. Substandard behaviour cannot and should not be tolerated.”

Regional health authorities he said has been given the charge to review its management procedure of such matters, while noting that over 3,000 hospital workers have been trained in customer service under its compassionate care programme launched three years ago.

He further noted that “Patients’ Charter of Rights and Responsibilities” have been promoted in health facilities which conversely indicated improvement in customer service in hospitals and health centres.

“Our training has continued but unfortunately the pressures of COVID-19 has put a strain on our resources resulting in some cutbacks,” he said. “Admittedly, this new set of negative cases are worrying and in my mind requires a review of the process and possibly reminder training sessions for our hospitals staff. This I have asked the ministry and regional health authorities to look into and pursue.”

“I have always maintained general confidence in our public health personnel to perform in a manner that is technically sound even with limited resources and in a COVID-19 where there is much stress and fatigued,” he added.

“I have however been long concerned that we need to work more on administering clinical services with a greater sense of empathy and compassion. We must work harder to put ourselves in the shoes of those we serve and help them to overcome their fear or pain associated with their particular condition. Too often that level of empathy is not displayed and this makes us seem cold and callous, undermining even our best attempts at clinical administration. We should remind ourselves more that often times our patients most effective therapy is physiological - it’s in making them understand that we know how they feel even while we help them to overcome. We must work on this. It must begin in our institutions of training as well as reinforced in our place of work.

“I would like to express my personal condolences to persons who have had bad experiences in recent times in our health institutions and further commit to ensuring we hold persons accountable for their actions and fix the system where needed, to prevent reoccurrence.”