St Ann’s Bay Hospital was back in the news last week when some staff, including doctors, briefly walked off the job following an incident in which a man reportedly used his fist to smash a glass in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) section.
On Tuesday afternoon, October 7, the man who is said to have a serious illness had become enraged after reportedly being in the A&E section for hours without attention. When he became boisterous efforts were made to calm him but he would not be subdued. He then smashed the glass.
The doctors and other staff, in protest, stood outside the building discussing security issues and the resources available to them.
Many patients have been complaining bitterly about the conditions of the hospital and the fact that for days there had been patients experiencing long waits at the hospital and also people who had been admitted had to be sitting in chairs because there were no beds. In the previous week, a man had used a piece of stick to hit a worker, after he complained about a long wait and no attention.
Though not giving any details of the shortage, or difficulties being faced by the staff, Leon Gordon, chairman of the North East Regional Health Authority, admitted in press interviews that there had been of late a surge in numbers or “influx” of patients. Many of those had gone there with symptoms of Chik V.
The staff went back to work later that evening after a meeting with Mr Gordon and assurances about security.
The previous week, Friday September 26, patients and their relatives complained that the hospital was out of food or nearly so and that they were getting next to nothing for meals. The hospital later admitted that food supplies had run short but that was caused through a “glitch” and had been fixed.
