TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE (239) patients have been cleared off of the surgical waiting list through the North Central Regional Health Authority’s Surgical Sundays Programme.
The disruptive innovation of Surgical Sundays – identifying patients who have been in the system for a prolonged period, and scheduling them for surgery on Sundays, outside of the routine surgery day – has cleared the backlog of patients who were waiting for simple hernia operations, and has seen over 100 cataract surgeries completed. The programme utilized four operating theatres by four teams of surgeons at the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex every other Sunday to address the backlog of urgent surgeries.
The result, is that from November 12, 2017 to August 12, 2018, 125 simple hernia operations were completed.
Cataract Sundays, which started on February 18th 2018, has resulted in 114 cataract patients to date, receiving their long awaited procedures. Cataract Sundays continue at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.
Ag. Medical Chief of Staff Dr. Ravi Lalla, said Surgical Sundays and Cataract Sundays was the vision of the now Ag. Director of Health, Dr. Malachy Ojuru and was enthusiastically supported by the surgical staff and the NCRHA Senior Executive staff.
“We surgeons were really glad about the Sunday surgeries initiative, which we realised was an innovative way to bring relief to our patients, and we are equally pleased about additional initiatives which are now in the pipeline and which will allow us to deliver better care to our patients in as short a space of time as possible,” Dr. Lalla said.
CEO Davin Thomas, said now that the backlog of hernia cases have been clears the Authority will now look at other problematic area and attend to those.
“At the NCRHA we will continue to improve our systems and in doing so provide additional opportunities for our doctors to make a tangible difference in the lives of our patients,” he said.
NCRHA Chairman Steve de Las said more and more, at the NCRHA, the ideas for improved patient care are coming from the health care providers themselves.
“And when you have staff that are so dedicated to their calling, then the Board and Executive must do all we can to facilitate the execution of the vision. I am particularly proud of staff for their dedication to this initiative.
