A critical shortage of nurses has forced the Ministry of Health and Wellness to delay plans to operate the recently refurbished Chapelton Community Hospital in Clarendon as a 24-hour facility.

After spending some $309 million to refurbish the facility, which had been closed in 2019 to facilitate extensive renovations, the Government reopened it with much fanfare in 2022 and announced that, except for admissions, all services would be available any time of each day.

But at a post-Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton admitted that the 24-hour a day service is not yet in place.

“One of the biggest bottlenecks of the [Jamaican] health system is the retention of health-care workers; we lose them very quickly as we train them and indeed it is affecting the quality of service. A lot of times when people wait they may not know that some of that may be linked to not having enough nurses when they are inpatient in hospitals, not having enough people to tend to them.

“I will say that we are even impacted right now… at Chapelton Hospital where we are offering a 24-hour service, [but] right now we are going up to 10 [hours] for the essential service and it is not because we don’t want to go up to 24 [hours], because we are having a challenge with nurses,” said Tufton as he pointed out that the shortage of health-care workers is seriously impacting the service level at health facilities across the island.

According to Tufton, the Government is moving to tackle this critical shortage of health-care workers with the $2.5-billion scholarship fund which he announced in his recent presentation in the 2024/25 sectoral debate.

The fund, dubbed The Barry Wint Memorial Scholarship, will see the Government spending $500 million each year for students pursuing studies in the medical field as part of its training and retention strategy for critical health-care professionals.

“It’s a big investment but we think it is one that is worth it because we are investing in our people. Our position is that no matter how many hospitals or health centres you build, no matter how you add services, if the people are not there…it is not going to happen,” added Tufton.

Residents of Chapelton and several surrounding communities, including Summerfield, Beckford Kraal, Thompson Town, Mocho, Frankfield, Kellits, Croft’s Hill, Nine Turns, Effort, Smithville, and Blackwoods, were overjoyed with the reopening of the facility which would spare them the stress of travelling to May Pen Hospital to receive health care.

Speaking at the reopening ceremony in December 2022, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the impact on the communities served by the hospital would be particularly significant.

On Wednesday, Member of Parliament (MP) for the area Robert Morgan told the Jamaica Observer that the decision to upgrade the facility from a clinic to a hospital was one that he lobbied for and welcomed.

Morgan pointed out that on occasions, where there is sufficient staff, the facility has operated for 24 hours each day, but with the shortage of particularly nurses, disappointingly the service has been curtailed.

“It is really challenging for the community where people, now, if there is an emergency in the night, they have to travel to the May Pen Hospital. So we are really working with the Ministry of Health and I have the commitment of the minister to see how quickly we can get the hospital back to 24 hours,” Morgan said.

“We are engaging with the community so the residents understand the challenges that we face and they recognise that it is not for want of trying, but we have to see if we can get more nurses in the system who would be willing to come to Chapelton to work at our community hospital,” said Morgan, the first-term MP for Clarendon North Central.

He pointed out that he led the lobby for the renovation and reopening of the facility which was done through a donation of US$1 million from New York-based, Jamaica-born philanthropist and entrepreneur Beverley Nichols, by way of the Push-Start Foundation, the Culture, Health, Art, Sports, and Education Fund, and the National Health Fund.

The scope of work included the renovation of the main building, the addition of a 20-bed ward named in honour of Nichols, a new pharmacy, an air-conditioned waiting area, an ambulance bay, and an operating theatre which is being completed.