$32m outpatient waiting area at the Spanish Town Hospital opens

The South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) recently opened the outpatient waiting area at the Spanish Town Hospital (STH), which has the capacity to accommodate 300 patients, who may require care but do not need to be admitted.

The covered waiting area is equipped with comfortable chairs and ceiling fans installed to improve patient experience. Funding in the amount of J$32 million was provided by SERHA.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said that the upgrade of the facility forms part of the transformation process in the healthcare sector. Addressing the audience, he urged them to protect the new building that was given to them by the Government of Jamaica.

“We must use the tools available to us to make things better. In another six months, when I come back here, I want to see the facility to look just as new, because we will all protect it”, he said.

He further explained that the implementation of the new patients’ electronic health records system used at the hospital will reduce the waiting time of its patients and increase the capacity of the medical staff to see more patients, adding upgrades to the relocated laboratory and pharmacy are progressing well.

The expanded lab equipped is now equipped with the most modern tools and is now conducting over 100,000 tests each month. Similarly, the new National Health Fund Pharmacy is dispensing drugs at a higher rate with more than 12,000 prescriptions filled monthly.

In his remarks, Errol Greene, regional director of SERHA, lauded the regional team and key stakeholders for the tremendous job done so far, which also include the construction of the main car park, the conversion of the store building into a maintenance staff building, and a daycare centre.

The major developments were made to facilitate the redevelopment of the Spanish Town Hospital. Greene also announced that the laboratory has implemented a system that allows patients to receive their lab results via text message.

The hospital will, in fact, receive the largest infrastructure work of the Health Systems Strengthening Programme, implemented with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union.

The work will see the construction of a six-storey modern facility with an estimated area of 17,633.68 square meters, including several points of access for staff and patients; a skywalk to link existing wards; and incorporating areas made to its services that will be offered to meet new and growing demands.