14th May 2013
To the attention of:
The Board of Directors
Directors of Medical and Nursing Services
Health Authority of Anguilla
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Pope Hill, Anguilla
Dear Madams and Sirs,
I am writing this letter on behalf of other persons to publicly express concerns with regard to the healthcare services provided by medical staff at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. We bring this matter to the attention of the Board of Directors and Directors of Medical and Nursing Services for you to be made aware of some occurrences regarding treatment provided to members of the public who have had medical emergencies and sought care at the hospital.
On Wednesday afternoon, the 17th of April 2013, we were at Accident and Emergency to obtain treatment for a 12-year old boy who had been hit in the eye and punched in the head by another child whilst at school.The injured youth was in pain with swelling around the eye and he was alsovomiting up blood. Without allegedly conducting a thorough physical examination of the injured child, the attending physician in A&E informed the mother that there was nothing wrong with herson. The doctor allegedly merely prescribed medication and did not give any diagnosis or recommendation for further treatment.
Both the father and mother of the injured child knew that there was something seriously wrong with their son. So we sought a second opinion with another medical doctor in private practice on Anguilla. This physician did a complete examination of the boy and referred him to medical facilities on Saint Martin for additional testing that could not be obtained locally.A CT scan was performed to determine whether there was any internal damage done to the child. Theresults of the scan showed fractures to the orbital floor as well as nasal passage.
What was quite distressing for us in dealing with this medical emergency at the hospital was the attitude and alleged negligence of care provided by the doctor at the Health Authority of Anguilla facility. Allegedly, the physician did not provide adequate medical treatmentfor which a fee was charged and paid. Therefore, we had to spend additional time and money toseek medical treatment elsewhere.
We would like to support the local public healthcare system. Yet, how can we do so when much needed improvements are essential for everyone to receive the best professional services offered by all of the HAA staff?
By speaking out in public, we trust that the Directors and hospital administrators will recognise the need to improve the standards of service given by every member of staff who works in the public healthcare system. We are certain that this incident is not the first to be reported and hope that you will be able to address our concerns accordingly.And we speak from personal knowledge of experiences we have had at the hospital, as well as frominformation we havereceived from other persons who have had similar experiences at A&E or on the Wards.
As a former employee of the Health Authority, I know that there are many colleagues who work hard doing their best in providing the level of professional services that the pubic would expect to receive. We all worked together diligently from 2005 to 2008 on the HAA accreditation programme to meet international standards of healthcare. That project helped us to identity the areas of improvements as well as the achievements we made within the public healthcare system’s delivery of services. However, it seems, as with all organisations, that the most important area in any business—which is the human factor or personnel (best practices in human resources management)—still needs further attention to examine and address any areas of weakness. We can implement great programmes and have them in place. Nevertheless, if we do not have properly trained staff with positive attitudes in the right positions, then we will continue to fail to achieve the goals set forth of providing the best public healthcare services offered in our island’s community.
The HAA has an excellent complement of staff. Many of the employees go the extra mile to ensure that everyone receives the best treatment and care. We are grateful to them for their kindnesses and professionalism. Yet it is oftentimes the persons who leave a negative impression on us whom we talk about the most.
To those individuals within the public and private healthcare sectors who have provided us with the best of care, we thank you. For the persons who lack the compassionate caring attitude needed for this type of work, we hope that you will learn to do a better job in serving the patients whom you treat and not just think of your employment as a pay cheque. We know that there is always room for improvement and pray that wewill all be able to achieve this lofty goal.
Should the HAA Board of Directors or hospital administrators require further details with regard to the incident mentioned above, or wish to contact the parents of the injured child, please do not hesitate tocall me by telephone on 297 8735 or mobilenumber 476 8735. You may also email me atkayferguson@ymail.com.
We are all working towards improving Anguilla’s healthcare services for everyone’s benefit.
Respectfully yours,
Kay M Ferguson (Ms)
A Patient Advocate on behalf of Concerned Citizens
PO Box PW5108
The Valley, AI-2640 Anguilla
Cc: Minister and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Government of Anguilla
