WAITING times at the Lautoka Hospital Emergency Department has been further reduced with the introduction of a more spacious waiting area at the divisional hospital.
The new feature was opened this week by Aspen Medical which hopes to offer a more efficient service delivery for those seeking urgent medical attention.
“For the emergency department, we have tripled the size of the waiting area, and it is now climate controlled,” said Aspen Medical CEO Gavin Whiteside.
“It is more conducive of something that is befitting a tertiary referral hospital.
“So our patients that are already stressed because they are in an emergency can come here into a relaxed environment, be triaged appropriately in a private setting where they will see the clinicians and prioritised in their level of care.”
Mr Whiteside said this more importantly reduce waiting times for patients.
“We have four fast tracked beds for low care patients which means they’re for our nonemergency patients.
“Technically in previous years they would wait a long time because they are not as sick as our acute or vulnerable patients.
“They can come in, get the treatment they require and move out while the pathway of those really acute or most at-risk patients can continue down the system that we have in place.
“Therefore, we see a larger capacity which is much faster across both streams – the higher end and the lower end.”
The hospital also opened a new Cardiac Catherterization Lab and MRI Suite.
