radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
A registered nurse wants the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) to explain why it took six hours to get the results of a CT scan done on her husband after he was admitted to the San Fernando General Hospital with a head injury on Easter Monday.
Rhea St John-Acosta, general secretary of the Unified Health Sector Workers’ Union, said the CT scan was completed at 5.30 am but it was not until well after midday that the results were made available to the doctors.
She said before the results were provided a female doctor tried to discharge her husband, Andy Acosta.
“My husband fell off a motorbike and got a head injury. He went to Rio Claro and then went to San Fernando General. The triage staff, nurses and doctors were excellent. He did not have to wait long and he was treated well,” St John-Acosta said.
“At 5.30 am, he was taken for a CT scan. A colleague of mine made sure the full body CT was done before he left his shift but it was more than five or six hours before the official report was given.
“When the doctor got the preliminary report, she came and said to me and said that if my husband’s vital signs were stable he will be discharged by 12.”
However, St John-Acosta said, “As a registered nurse, I am well aware that you cannot discharge someone with a head injury before 24 hours because you have to monitor neuro watch, seizure watch, monitoring for consciousness, and lack of consciousness. Also, they gave him morphine and I had no way of knowing whether his drowsiness was a result of head trauma or morphine.”
She said her husband had swelling over his eyes and at the side of his head.
“I told them that swelling was not normal and you could not say someone will not have spinal injuries if you have not assessed the head injuries.”
St-John-Acosta who wants the SWRHA to look into the operations of the hospital’s Radiology Department, said, “It is unacceptable that someone on call will take four to five hours to report a CT scan that was already completed.”
She also wants Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh to visit the hospital as an ordinary citizen to see how it is being run.
“Patients are suffering and staff is fed up,” she declared.
According to St John-Acosta, whenever the Health Minister visits the hospital, he is taken to the best areas and there is a coverup of crowded wards and broken equipment.
She said she plans to file an official complaint.
Contacted for comment, SWRHA corporate communications manager Kevon Gervais said, “The SWRHA advises that based on this concern and upon preliminary senior medical review of the care received, all appropriate measures within acceptable time frames without compromise to the patient’s clinical condition were rendered.
“The SWRHA awaits the official complaint to further address any remaining concerns.”
