Teenagers among social cases at Noel Holmes Hospital

By Racquel Porter    

 

A Senior Medical Officer at Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover has revealed that teenagers are among the 10 social cases at the facility.

 

Dr. Patrice Monthrope says they were admitted as smaller children.

 

Hospitals in western Jamaica are reportedly having challenges responding to the increasing number of patients requiring bed spaces due to social cases at the facilities.

 

The Senior Medical Officer explained that some patients suffer from severe illnesses that are difficult to treat and require life-long care.

 

"A lot of our cases are long-standing. You have some persons with many types of mental disabilities, chronic medical illnesses, that you've almost grown up in a hospital, like young males have come there who are now teenagers. So you would have tried initially to contact relatives and also use other government agencies, poor relief, the infirmary to take these patients, to no avail. And this has been going on for many, many, many years," he explained. 

 

Of the 10 social cases at the hospital, there are eight males and two females.

 

Dr. Monthrope said social cases put a strain on the services at the hospital, as they can take up more than 50 per cent of bed space, especially on the male ward which has a 14-bed capacity. 

 

"On the female side, it's not so bad. But what it means is the male patients coming through and accessing the hospital care through the accident and emergency department, when the ward is full, there's then a backup of these patients in our accident and emergency unit. And that's where you're getting some problems with overcrowding and increase in and waiting times and stuff like that per person."