The North East Regional Health Authority, NERHA is to meet with the union representing staff at the medical records department of the St. Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital, in St Ann, tomorrow.

This follows reports from the Union of Technical, Administrative, and Supervisory Personnel, UTASP that workers are restive, and have called in sick, due to concerns about severe health and safety issues, stemming from deplorable working conditions. 

UTASP explained that earlier this month, fire damaged a section of the department resulting in workers not having an area to store their personal belongings and no designated bathroom facility among other things. 

In a statement, NERHA acknowledged the concerns of the workers, adding that the hospital’s management team is dedicated to addressing these concerns.

NERHA said it has engaged UTASP, to discuss the concerns and find mutually beneficial resolutions.

Among the resolutions proposed, is the undertaking of the necessary repairs and renovations.

For the medium term, NERHA proposed to execute renovations to the medical records department to optimize the space and make it more user friendly and functional.

NERHA pointed out that the hospital is slated for major transformation under the Inter-American Development Bank’s Health Systems Strengthening for Prevention and Care Management of Non Communicable Diseases Programme.

Through the programme, a new outpatient building including a new medical records department, will be constructed.  

Additionally, the electronic health records system will be rolled out at the hospital this year, with the implementation process slated to begin next month. 

The implementation of the electronic system will see the hospital eventually transitioning to a paperless system for health records.  

NERHA said it remains steadfast in the commitment to open communication, transparency, and collaboration with all employees to ensure a positive work environment and the delivery of high quality healthcare services to the community. 

In furtherance of this commitment, a meeting is scheduled with the medical records group, and their union representatives tomorrow, at 10 a-m, to discuss the issues and to elaborate on the proposed solutions.