IN an effort to tackle complaints about poor quality service in public health facilities, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton on Wednesday announced that a range of targeted initiatives, including the deployment of undercover observers in public spaces, will be rolled out by his ministry.

Addressing health officials and other stakeholders at the opening of the Carol Picart Courtyard at Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Tufton said as the Government embarks on constructing and upgrading health facilities, health staff should also be prepared to increase service quality.

“We cannot build new buildings, equip them, and don’t have a different mindset. That’s the future of a reformed, improved health system,“ he said. ”We need to focus on the people and on the attitude as to how we improve.“

He said mystery patients will be deployed, ”to sit and wait in the triage process for attention“.

”And they are going to write down whether or not the customer service representative is active on the ground, and if they are missing, then we will have to find out why. In business, we call them mystery shoppers,“ he explained. “They’ll be live and in living colour, and they will do their own write-ups.“

He added that a new department has been established within the ministry to carry out investigations in matters involving reports of customer service failures. “That department, among other things, is dispatched to wherever there is a complaint or a challenge to do independent investigations, collect statements, and give a report to my office and the office of the permanent secretary,” he said. “The days of people doing things with excuses, we have to bring that to an end.”

He said recommendations will be made based on the reports and will be taken to a board for appropriate action.

Tufton added that unexpected visits by himself and senior officials will also be conducted across institutions.

“Because sometimes I find that when I announce that I’m coming, all of a sudden the floors are cleaned, the bathrooms are cleaned, and people dress up in uniforms. And as mi gone, uniform take off, water throw way on the floor, staff forget everybody, no one speaks to no one,” he said.

Acknowledging that “for the most part, people get the service that they ask for”, Tufton encouraged health officials to “not condemn” themselves but “try harder”.

“I am not saying all of this to say that I am here to prosecute anyone. Because the truth is, if you think about it, on average, three million visitors go through our health centres and hospitals… It’s a huge portfolio that involves millions of Jamaicans. It’s a big task,” he said.

“But we cannot invest and don’t get the commensurate return. If you need to train people, train them again, so we ensure that even if it’s 10 per cent that is giving the challenge, because either they don’t know or they refuse to learn, we’re going to have to teach those who don’t know. And who refuses to learn, they may have to go somewhere where they like the job. Because obviously they don’t like the job if they refuse to learn,“ Tufton charged.