Infant allegedly made to wait some 10 hrs at Peebles Hospital
The medical categorisation of an emergency may not necessarily be that of the average person. When one falls ill they may rush off to seek medical assistance with the hope of getting attended as fast as practicably possible, which may mean some amount of delay, but to turn up at an emergency unit of a hospital and made to wait for more than eight hours before seeing a doctor is simply unacceptable.
This was allegedly the case of several persons when they visited Peebles Hospital over the weekend. Virgin Islands News Online received a call shortly after 7 P.M. on Saturday March 9, 2013 from a concerned resident who revealed a startling situation. The caller was not very much bothered by his situation but rather about that of a woman and her infant child.
This news agency eventually spoke with the woman, whose name is filed but will not be published at her request. She said that she had reason to take her one-year-old son (name provided) to Peebles Hospital with more than one complaints but was made to wait for more than ten hours before a doctor arrived.
“I brought my child to see the doctor because he had fallen and he got a bump in his head and the night before he was coughing a lot and so I bring him here since about 10 [A.M.] and till now [7:20P.M.] we aint see no doctor. She explained that the nurses on duty did the child’s vitals and did prepare them for the doctor but he never showed up until after 7 P.M. She said she was told by the nurses that there was only one doctor in the system at the time and no assurance was given as to when she would have been attended to.
As she finally made the decision that she was going to return home and pray that her child recovers naturally as she hadn’t the funds to seek private medical attention, the doctor arrived and another situation developed. Persons who came after her were allegedly given first preference.
Virgin Islands News Online also heard the sad experience of another person who was waiting to be attended to allegedly for more than six hours. “I am not going to complain because it aint make no sense because it happens all the time. I come a lot and is the same thing, I does got to wait for hours before I see the doctor, so why am I going to complain for, nothing will change,” said the man who claimed to be a diabetic.
This news agency did not publish the story over the weekend as it was prudent and fair to get the hospital's side of the story. However, when contacted yesterday March 12, 2013, the Public Relations Officer Mrs Tamara Archibald-Gill was furnished with names as she she said that would have been necessary to track the validity of the complaint and had promised to return a call to this news site the same day. The call was never returned and efforts to contact the BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA) after 3 P.M. proved futile.
This is a situation that mars the promotion of the hospital since administrators have been saying they have been working tirelessly around the clock to do every possible thing to improve the services of the hospital. This is also negative publicity for the National Health Insurance (NHI) since most residents are already peeved that it is mandatory, which means they would be forced to seek medical attention at Peebles Hospital for certain conditions if they are unable to afford two health insurance schemes. They have continuously called for significant improvements at Peebles Hospital before the NHI is brought into effect.
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82 Responses to “Infant allegedly made to wait some 10 hrs at Peebles Hospital”
BTW- The clinics that you can go to when its not an emergency needs VAST improvements too starting with the workers attitudes.
The Emergency room is for EMERGENCIES and regardless of when the real emergency patient arrives, they get first preference. Ronnie spoke about Clinic services separate from the Emergency room to alleviate this problem and he was called a J.A for it. Now look. Anywhere in the world you go to Emergency Room with a bump and a cough, you will get your vitals taken by the nurse. If the nurse doesn't deem it an emergency you will wait. 10hrs is a long time, I don't think I could do it. But the point is that's how it goes not only in BVI. It goes to show that's why health needs looking into. The lady said she waited because she can't afford private healthcare. What is the hoopla about? you get what you pay for.
I do feel for the mother sitting so long but the child had a cough, was seen by the triage nurse and deemed not an emergency.
End of story and not headline news!
Ah WOOooo wooou woou woou !
People ahead of me was like "Deal with the child, deal with the boy, he wing bruk, deal wid he, I Ok, deal wid he". The nurses flat out said "If ayo ain't want to get deal with, ayo can go home" and took whomever was in whatever order they was in before I came to be dealt with. First come first serve right? Now while I ain't a selfish guy, even from young and would try to be courteous to all I can be, I ain't had too much a problem with the nurse being rude to the people wanting me to go ahead of them.
That was until ANOTHER guy come in there, burnt. Bleeding and with his skin peeling from a cement mixer explosion with extensive damage to his forearm and elbow. I was no longer the most urgent case. Everybody said, "Oh god, Deal wid the man! Deal wid him!" along with myself who kept pointing to the burnt dude who, suprisingly wasn't writhing on the floor in agony from such a massive burn when the nurse come out. "HE GOING GAH TO WAIT!" Was the reply and the next person was ushered in.
I got my hand bandaged up later by a very understanding Dr Smith (Before he was the Chief Minister) about an hour and change later and had to walk past that poor guy in the chair and smell his hand still simmering from that burn. That's the last time I been in the hospital and I have to thank god each day that I've been healthy enough and free of major injury to NEVER have to go back there. Peebles has an disturbing lack of compassion running through that place from what I've heard and experienced first hand and it seriously needs to be addressed. I know of some caring doctors/nurses/healthcare professionals who work in that place but whenever you go there you end up playing Roulette and often end up with the worst of the worst.
This is one of the many downside of free/near to free services. But the hospital can do better!!! Thats too many hours, i always thought pregnant ladies, kids and seniors were first picked.
How do we know that there weren't more pressing emergencies to be dealt with? There are things more serious than a bump and cough. get your priorities straight. when you long the road everybody sharp as .... with the latest trends and latest phone. As soon as it's something to do with their kids or something important, they can't afford it. bull... Emergency room is for emergencies. Anywhere else in the world you would wait just as long or longer. I have experienced it my self. Peebles is heaven compared to others. yes they can improve but the bashing is unfair. what other situations were the nurses and doctors dealing with. right now there is stomach flu and dengue going around. If the nurse checked the vitals and determined it's not an emergency then you wait until the doc can see u. it is simple. if you can't wait for free care, go pay your money for quick service.
This is where T... A-G comes in. She is suppose to educate the public on what is emergencies. Some of these things I am seeing you guys complaining about are NOT emergencies. In the waiting room in the hospital, you will see a sign that lists emergencies. A, B, C... A stands for Airway, B: stands for Breathing, C: stands for circulation. THESE ARE EMERGENCIES. Cough, cold, bump on heads whether its a baby, elderly, child, adult. It is NOT an emergency. The only story I heard above that was emergency is the bronchial asthma patient. Doctors who are stationed in the emergency room (TRAUMA) cannot leave the patients who are in Critical condition for someone who can wait. This is where FAST TRACK which is located where you guys sit. Now, those are the doctors, nurses you might need to keep your eyes on.
I did not drive my daughter there, the ambulance did and she still had to wait hours to see a doctor like we were begging or was some kind of an outcast, with my daughter still not being able to see a doctor and after being informed that a technician who does x-rays was called in but they were not sure when and if that person was coming, I got up and left with my child after 8pm. Because B & F had no technician on sunday i had to go back there and endure another 4 hours of wait.
The BVI’s health care prices (BVIHSA) are so affordable compared to many other places. I also find the nurses and doctors to be a bit over worked and under appreciate by the people they serve and often times having to endure a lot of verbal abuse and disrespect from the public. REMEMBER: these are the people that are there to help save your lives when need be. One wouldn’t want a Doctor to be busy treating you bumped toe while your love one comes in with a cardiac arrest where every second counts.
So show a little more appreciation for your Doctors and Nurses. There are quite a few great professionals right there are Peebles Hospital. I would love to name a few but don’t want to jack the names up ☺.
So much complaints about these incompetent doctors who don't seem to care- our locals physicians who showed compassion for their fellow nationals have been pushed out and individuals who are just about money without having to work for it and have no compassion for the nationals of the country are being hired and praised.
The Hospital needs to get it act together before NHI kicks in or people we would have to rebel against the government because they have taken away our freedom of choice as we cannot afford 2 insurances with the high cost of living in the BVI
We need the standard of service delivery to be raised and the heads of the hospital should stop fooling the populace with false lip service and work for those big salaries they are collecting.Sometimes it is utilizing the staff you have effectively and efficiently and implementing monitoring and evaluation processes to achieve this and not necessarilyabout hiring more staff and putting the Territory in a financial constraint.
Ms. C.... was booted from USVI, and ANGUILLA. So is it sensible or foolhardy to believe that she will be effective in improving the services at PEEBLES? The staff at the hospital, whether you go to the ER, or Clinic, don't move with any urgency. They crawl around matter of factly and very unprofessional. I have been there. The nurses have no bed side manners, it is just a sad situation down in that place. This lady has her work cut for her, but is she up to the task? I doubt it very much, so I guess we will just limp along and the BVI residents suffer.
On three separate occasions, Ewing has claimed that financial audits of the hospitals were underway but the new InterHealth Canada CEO said that no audits had been started.
Ewing also blamed the downturn in the economy for people losing their jobs and no longer paying 6 percent of their wages into the health plan. Www. Caribbeannewsnow.com
The same path and result that BVI is speeding helper skelter towards. Only difference is we ain't paying to mismanage the health system we just doing it ourselves!