ORANJESTAD- The St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation (SEHCF) has received the calamity report from the independent investigation committee in relation to the unfortunate passing of a patient on April 1, 2022. 

The report has been shared and discussed with the patient’s family the Inspectorate of Health and Youth Care and the employees directly involved with the calamity. 

This unfortunate situation has left its emotional impact on us all but, much more so, on the family and friends of the deceased patient. Out of respect to the privacy of the deceased patient’s family, the report will not be made public.

The independent investigation committee has reviewed and enumerated the factual circumstances of the calamity. A multitude of factors among which communication have led to the tragic passing of the patient. The committee also provided an extensive list of recommendations to improve the quality health care further. 

We take the recommendations of the committee very seriously and have reviewed them against the improvement plan that the interim Board of Directors has worked on since his appointment in June of this year. Most of the recommendations were already reflected in the improvement plan however based on the recommendation list, the improvement plan has been further adjusted and certain actions prioritized. The improvement plan is based on the following 5 pillars: Innovate, learn to do better, communicate safely and effectively, focus on quality and safety and working together. Going forward, we will be sharing with you the concrete steps that we are taking towards structurally improving health care on St. Eustatius.

Nurses training

For now, we can already share, that this month, an across-the-board nurses skills training will start. This training has been set up under the guidance of the White and Yellow Cross Foundation in Curaçao and in collaboration of the White and Yellow Cross Foundation in St. Maarten. In addition, two specialized quality nurses will strengthen our nursing team from 1 October until the end of January 2023. Besides their duties as nurses, they will work together with the team on a number of care innovations, such as the introduction of the Early Warning Score, the improvement of the Triage system and the development of care protocols.