FORT CHARLOTTE, Hanover — The Ministry of Health and Wellness is currently working on establishing a call centre that will monitor concerns from the public and provide responses.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said the initiative forms part of the ministry’s compassionate care programme. He explained the role that will be played by the call centre, for which the ministry is currently in the process of hiring.

“… When the calls are made, it goes to a central point. It’s picked up immediately by the people behind the phone. They log the complaints and the details and then our team will take the responsibility to respond,” Tufton explained, noting that calls from across the country will be accepted in a central location.

Dr Tufton, who was responding to questions from the Jamaica Observer during his pop-up tour of the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover on Thursday, said the procurement process is underway and the project should be in place at the end of the procurement process later in the year.

“I keep saying about procurement, procurement because it is one of the unfortunate steps that have to be taken. I don’t care what anybody says. I think it just takes too much time to get anything done; but it is what it is,” he commented.

The minister explained that, over time, the call centre will provide the ministry with a database of complaints, where the complaints are coming from, who is making the complaints and will provide data that will facilitate follow-up communication if warranted.

“What it would do is allow for greater accountability and greater responsiveness of concerns. And I think it’s important because I’d much prefer a disgruntled patient call me or my team and we respond to them even if we are wrong — or more so when we are in the wrong — than for them to call TVJ or CVM or mount a demonstration,” stated Dr Tufton.

He argued that protests do not help the process and show a lack of confidence in the process.

The call centre will replace a system that, the minister said, has been ineffective.

“In the past, we had a standard and regulation division that responded to concerns or queries that were raised by patients. More often than not, disgruntled patients call a number and someone answers and they respond. I don’t think it’s working as effectively as I’d like it to work in that people call and they don’t get a response. It rings without an answer. In other words, the summarising of the circumstances, the following up and so on [was not being done],” said Dr Tufton.