No 24-hour service for St John polyclinic yet

Government will be scaling back on its plans to open a second 24-hour polyclinic, Minister of Health Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic has revealed.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY this week, Bostic revealed that after close to a year of trying to establish a 24-hour service at the David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex in St John, his ministry has come to the realization that it was not logistically possible at this time. However, the Minister said that come July the health facility will be opened for extended hours daily as well as on the weekends.

“We have taken the decision and Cabinet has agreed that from July 1 the opening hours for the David Thompson Health and Social Complex will be extended to 8:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday and we are contemplating extending those hours to Saturday and Sunday because the polyclinic is currently not opened on those days,” said Bostic.

He explained that while some of the reasons for the change in trajectory were as a result of problems within the domain of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, there were other external factors at play. Among these was the issue of public transportation, as poor bus service makes the facility out of reach to the very rural communities that it is supposed to serve.

“We are taking this approach for two reasons and one of those reasons has to do with transportation. Transportation is vital for persons wishing to utilize the facility, especially cross country. With the current public transportation problems, it would be difficult for persons from St George, St Joseph, St Andrew to get the facility and until we have the bus situation under control, it is prudent to do so rather than go the full 24 hours,” he said. 

Last July, Bostic had noted that the pilot facility for the round-the-clock services, the Winston Scott Polyclinic, at Ladymeade Gardens, Jemmotts Lane, was already relieving some of the burden from the Accident and Emergency Department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

“The clinic so far has been very well received by patients and fully supported by doctors, nurses and staff. I am happy to report that so far things are going quite well. A number of patients have been visiting the polyclinic and for the first three days we would have averaged about 95 patients per day and during the graveyard shift, about ten persons per day would have visited the polyclinic,” Bostic said then. He had also revealed that based on the success of the urgent care programme at the Winston Scott Polyclinic, Government would have a better gauge of how and when it would roll out the second phase of the service in St John, which was a signature campaign promise of the Barbados Labour Party.

However, in his interview with Barbados TODAY Bostic made it clear Government has not abandoned the idea of 24-hour service in St John, noting that the proposal would be revisited once the kinks have been worked out.

“We have to ensure that we have the diagnostic capacity at the St John polyclinic before we commence the 24-hour service, so that people do not have to leave there to go down to Bridgetown to get their diagnostics. So after we sort out those things and after there is improvement to the bus service then we can make an announcement on the 24-hour service,” said Bostic.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb