A worthwhile effort
In reply to my letter - "Good thing she didn't listen to hospital guard" published in the ST Forum on 21 June 2007, SGH's Chief Operating Officer wrote to ST Forum on 23 June 2007 - "Crowd control frees staff for emergency care".
My letter in ST Forum attracted 25 comments in the ST Discussion Board.
After reading SGH's reply in the ST Forum, I wrote the following letter directly to their Chief Operating Officer :
I refer to your letter published in the Straits Times Forum on 23 June 2007.
If selected next-of-kin are only allowed into the critical-care area, logically, there should be no crowd to hinder the work of medical personnel.
If there is a crowd, it is likely to be outside the critical-care area. Hence the Cisco guards should be based at the entrance to stop unauthorized personnel from entering into the critical-care area. Clearly, those who are already inside the critical-care area, have good reasons to be there.
I would also like to share the article on "Lean Thinking in Healthcare" on page 27 of the enclosed magazine. SGH must strive harder to live up to its slogan - "Where Patients Deserve The Best Care".
The Good News :
I am happy to learn that my feedback did not fall onto deaf ears. In their letter of 3 July 2007, I quote the following :
"As a result of your suggestion, we have now deployed our security officers at the entrance of the critical care area as an added measure to facilitate crowd control.
We are now in the midst of upgrading our A&E and in our redesign of the facility we have used LEAN approaches to incorporate features that will enhance patient flow and experience."
Posted on 13 July 2007
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