HSA shares progress and plans during health minister’s tour

Health Minister Hon Sabrina Turner received a warm and enlightening welcome from the Health Services Authority (HSA) staff as she visited the Cayman Islands Hospital and Faith Hospital, where she was informed of the key achievements and future developments of the Authority.

The Cayman Islands Hospital tour commenced with a presentation by HSA’s Chief Executive Officer Lizzette Yearwood, Board Chairman Jonathan Tibbetts and Head of Accident and Emergency Dr Elizabeth McLaughlin outlining major milestones such as HSA and Public Health’s role in the successful multisectoral response to COVID-19, the achievement of unmodified (clean) audit opinions, laboratory JCI accreditation and expansion of key clinical areas. They also discussed the Authority’s three-year strategic priorities and its short-term goals for 2021 including various infrastructural and service expansion projects.

The global nurse shortage, its impact on Cayman and the need for local legislative changes were some of the challenges highlighted in the presentation.

“We are grateful for this opportunity for our management team and staff to get acquainted with our new minister and to show all the work and planning that happens behind-the-scenes to make sure that people have access to high-quality health services,” Ms Yearwood noted.

The minister was then guided throughout the hospital visiting Accident & Emergency, Maternity, Women’s Health, Mental Health, Forensics and all the wards. At each stop, the department heads explained how their areas of the hospital functioned and Minster Turner expressed her gratitude and pride in the level of work being done by staff.

In Cayman Brac, Minister Turner was greeted with similar enthusiasm at Faith Hospital where the tour followed the same format with the Director of Sister Islands Health Services Dr Srirangan Velusamy leading the group.

“Healthcare is dear to me because I started my own career at the Cayman Islands Hospital as a nurse (LPN). Since then, so much has changed. I am excited to see the progress we have made over the years to improve healthcare delivery on these Islands and applaud the outstanding work the HSA staff has done,” said Minister Turner.

“My tour of these hospitals gave me a greater understanding of the challenges they face. I am pleased to see the progress being made to expand and upgrade services as well as modernize the facility to meet the growing healthcare demands,” she added.

The Minister was accompanied on the tours by Acting Chief Officer Nellie Pouchie and other members of the Ministerial team.