LUCEA, Hanover — The work being done by members of Noel Holmes Hospital’s (NHH) Hospital Attendant Department has not gone unrecognised. Hanover Health Services recently lauded the team for consistently maintaining a clean and functional sanitary facility within the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA).

“It was a privilege for me to give my support to them because I can tell you that it is not easy for them to keep these bathrooms clean. You can go to any of the bathrooms on the property and use it,” stated senior medical officer (SMO) for Noel Holmes Hospital, Dr Patrice Monthrope.

Dr Monthrope pointed out that the excellent work observed had spanned more than a year and so retired heads of the Hospital Attendant Department — including Claudette Sangster and Hyacinth Scott — were brought in to share in the special occasion held last Friday.

The 22 employees of the department were collectively presented with a plaque and trophy in appreciation of their outstanding work.

The initiative comes on the heels of media exposure that highlighted the unsatisfactory conditions of many sanitary facilities within public hospitals across all four regional health authorities.

In that report, made public last December, Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland fared the worst. Improvements have since been made. Savanna-la-Mar hospital is one of four within the WRHA. The others are Noel Holmes, Falmouth General in Trelawny and Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James.

Dr Monthrope is proud of how well Hanover has done.

“[We are the] best in the western region, and possibly the best in the island, and as such we throw down the gloves for them [other hospitals] to challenge us for the trophy,” he said, buoyed by the 60-bed facility’s attendant department.

The senior officer of health pointed to the importance of keeping the bar high. He wants to see the recognition given to Noel Holmes replicated at the national level of the health sector.

“So often these standards are falling in many areas in how offices are run. I am not picking anybody out but it is time that we increase our standards and make people feel good about having good standards. So often our people seem to be majoring in the minor — and I don’t think that is something we need to support. We need to support good customer service, good relations, good care and compassion, as we have been charting for a long time,” stated the SMO.

Acting supervisor of the Hospital Attendant Department, Julian Sinclair was ecstatic about the award.

“I was excited about it, and I can tell others that hard work pays off,” he told the Observer.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of Hanover Health Services, Roan Grant credited hospital attendants with “always keeping the areas clean and sanitised, in keeping with our policies”.

He said the aim is to make this an ongoing event whereby other departments will be included.

“We are trying to do it as an in-house thing to encourage a high level of efficiency when persons are executing their duties in whichever department… It will be an ongoing thing,” stated Grant.