Service woes at Wesfleur hospital

THE recent death of a patient seeking treatment at Wesfleur Day Hospital who had to wait for several hours to see a doctor was one of the reasons a community protest began outside the facility.

Around 50 people gathered in front of the day hospital yesterday to protest the “poor service” at the facility.

Atlantis resident Joshua Swartz said the situation at Wesfleur Hospital was bad, with long waiting periods, wrong or no medication and few to no doctors available. Swartz called for the dismissal of the hospital board.

“I lost my partner of 10 years, Harriet Michaels, due to the poor service and negligence of Wesfleur Hospital. My partner was a lupus arthritis patient who I took to hospital on June 16, 2022 at 5.30am.

“She was a high-risk patient and needed immediate treatment. Instead, the nurse treated her as a code-yellow patient without doing a full triage,” Swartz said.

The 41-year-old mother of four was diagnosed with lupus arthritis in 2016.

“Harriet, my life-long partner, suffered for more than eight hours before she received treatment after I had an argument with the security and medical staff to help her.”

Michaels died on the morning of June 17.

Provincial Health and Wellness Department spokesperson Shimoney Regter said they were working with the City health department to expand the primary health-care package at the City-run Saxon Sea and Protea Park clinics to alleviate some of the pressure on Wesfleur Hospital.