Thu | Apr 30, 2026

Spanish Town Hospital gets new Outpatient Waiting Area

Published:Friday | May 17, 2024 | 12:12 PM
Dr Christopher Tufton, Minister of Health and Wellness, cuts the ribbon to officially open the Outpatient Waiting Area at the Spanish Town Hospital on Wednesday, May 15. Sharing in the occasion from left are: Novellette Robinson, Director of Nursing Services; Abdon Campbell, Parish Manager, St Catherine Health Services; Councillor Keisha Lewis, Lauriston Division; Dr Jacqueline Wright-James, Senior Medical Officer; Jacqueline Ellis, CEO, and Denise Daley, Member of Parliament for St Catherine Eastern. - Contributed photo.

A new Outpatient Waiting Area has been opened at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine as part of efforts by the Ministry of Health and Wellness to improve patient care and provide a more comfortable environment.

The facility, which has the capacity to accommodate 300 patients, is equipped with comfortable chairs and ceiling fans.

Funding in the amount of $32 million was provided by South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA).

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, said that the upgrade of the facility forms part of the transformation process in the healthcare sector.

Tufton further explained that the implementation of the new patients' electronic health records system at the hospital will reduce the waiting time of its patients and increase the capacity of the medical staff to see more patients.

He added that he is also pleased with the current upgrades being made at the hospital including the relocated laboratory and pharmacy.

The lab is equipped with more space, more tests, and the most modern equipment and over 100,000 lab tests are done each month.

The new National Health Fund Pharmacy is equipped with more space, more drugs dispensing windows and comfortable waiting area and over 12,000 prescriptions are done each month.

In his remarks, Errol Greene, Regional Director of SERHA, said commended stakeholders for the infrastructural developments of the hospital, including the relocated laboratory and pharmacy, the construction of the main car park, the conversion of the store building into a maintenance staff building, and a daycare centre.

Greene also announced that the laboratory has implemented a system so that patients can receive their lab results via text message.

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