Health Ministry shares PAHO review of special care nurseries
Jan. 24, 2023
KINGSTON, Jamaica. Tuesday, January 24, 2023: The Ministry of Health & Wellness has shared findings from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) report on special care nurseries at Victoria Jubilee Hospital, Bustamante Hospital for Children and Spanish Town Hospital.
PAHO was invited by the Minister of Health & Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton to provide technical support following the detection of a cluster of bacterial infections at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital last year.
The report – which describes the findings from the technical mission carried out between October 14 and 22 last year (2022) and details the rapid assessments of infection prevention and control in special care nurseries at the three facilities – is the result.
“The findings mirror the results of the internal investigations done at the facility and regional levels, which showed, among other things: low staff-to-patient ratios; and non-compliance with some infection prevention and control protocols – including inadequate separation between infants, and gowns used for contact precautions worn from one patient to another,” noted Dr. Tufton.
The Minister was speaking at a media briefing on the report, held at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston earlier today (January 24, 2023). The briefing followed a forum that brought together representatives from the regional health authorities and the facilities to gather lessons learnt and share experiences following last year’s detection of the bacterial cases.
According to Dr. Tufton, the health team has, since last year, “moved with urgency to implement measures to preserve life and health at all three facilities”.
Those efforts include:
- stepped-up sterilisation, cleaning and disinfection;
- stepped-up monitoring/auditing of infection prevention and control practices, in keeping with recommendations from PAHO and plans of the Health Services Planning and Integration Branch of the Ministry; and
- an assessment of staffing levels.
“To the extent possible, we have made some adjustments to the staff complement towards achieving the World Health Organisation standard of 1 nurse to 1-2 babies for newborns receiving intensive care, and 1 nurse to 3 babies for newborns receiving intermediate care. The system is not yet at those nurse-to-baby ratios, but it is a work in progress,” the Minister noted.
“The Ministry is also looking at an update of our Secondary Care Model that would see an increase in specialist services and general staffing ratios. This will enable earlier detection and allow us to provide interventions for decreasing morbidity and mortality,” Dr. Tufton added.
The Minister also revealed that there is to be ongoing collaboration with PAHO to, among other things, support advanced training for Infection Prevention and Control focal points; and design targeted Healthcare-Associated Infections Surveillance programmes that are consistent with services provided in in-patient facilities.
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