Reduced Hours At Lamb Foggo For One Month
The Bermuda Hospitals Board advised that the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre [UCC] ”will close on weekdays from Wednesday 19 October, for at least a month.”
A spokesperson said, “The UCC will remain open during its usual hours on weekends from 9am to 9pm. This only relates to urgent care services, and does not impact the weekly Integrated Healthcare Clinic that runs on Wednesdays.”
Chief of Emergency, Dr Chikezie Dean Okereke, notes: “The closure on weekdays helps us focus emergency staff at KEMH to manage the pressures being felt in the emergency department. Emergency visits right now are high and bed occupancy within BHB is also under pressure, so we are focusing our nurse and physician resources where the most unwell patients are.
“This has happened to us before as we move into the colder months. The emergency patient numbers are not related to any one cause. They are multifactorial and include, among others, a generally unwell and increasingly aging population. We expect the UCC will remain closed on the weekdays for at least a month, but we will continually review the situation.”
Chief of Staff, Wesley Miller, adds: “There are ways we each can reduce the need for emergency visits that are better for our quality of life as well as reducing pressure in the hospital. We would urge people to manage their known chronic illnesses and see their GP as needed for advice and treatment, before it requires a hospital visit.
“We are also entering a time when respiratory illnesses are rising. People should do all they can to protect themselves by getting their flu and Covid vaccines, especially if they are older or have pre-existing conditions that make them vulnerable to serious complications. We also want to see people drive more carefully on the roads, avoiding unnecessary and sometimes very serious injuries.
“Finally, we ask that people who are ready for discharge are helped home or to a nursing placement by their loved ones and families. We still experience people staying in hospital longer than they need to be and this causes delays that impact emergency staff as patients wait there longer for an inpatient bed.”
The CoS adds “The emergency patient numbers are not related to any one cause. They are multifactorial and include, among others, a generally unwell and increasingly aging population”. Should “and the majority have no insurance” been added? No wonder the hospital is looked on as a free care home. Time for some serious decisions and actions, and not more talk.
“The closure on weekdays helps us focus emergency staff at KEMH to manage the pressures being felt in the emergency department.”
So closure of the UCC due to lack of resources then. Doesn’t the “U” in “UCC” stand for “urgent”?