PHILIPSBURG:--- The SMMC has been under intensified supervision by the Inspectorate since September 8th 2012 after it was established in an audit and a final report in August 2012 that the quality of care and patient safety were not sufficiently ensured.
Since the establishment of the intensified supervision the Inspectorate has been working closely together with the Board of Directors (BoD) and management team to achieve improvements based on a plan of action that was agreed upon.
On December 17th the Inspectorate VSA had an end year evaluation meeting with the BoD and management of the SMMC. During this evaluation the status of the implementation of the action plan, of ongoing renovations, of planned new construction, collaboration with the Luis Constant Fleming Hospital and Saba and Statia were discussed amongst others.
The Inspectorate concluded that the governing structure has improved and has become stable, that matters are dealt with in a serious manner and many other improvements have been achieved. Many other actions to complete desired and necessary improvements are in the pipeline. To name a few, the organization of the ER has been re-structured and improved, the relationship with the medical staff is much better, new permanent specialists have been hired, a quality assurance manager will be hired on short term, the surgery theaters will be renovated in the first quarter of 2014.
At the same time the Inspectorate realizes that the time span in which some matters can be addressed can't be a short one all the time and a lot also depends on the available financial means. There are still some areas that raise concerns such as the hiring of a medical director, the financial position of the hospital due to stagnation of cash flow and failure in the materialization of new tariffs, hiring of more different specialists and the much needed new construction. All these matters may hamper the quality of care provided.
Based on a thorough evaluation it was decided to terminate the intensified supervision on the SMMC as of today.
The Inspectorate in closing, will continue to work closely together with the SMMC in completing all areas of the action plan to ensure that an adequate level of medical care is maintained and necessary improvements are achieved.
Press Release from Inspectorate of the Ministry of VSA