Sassoon Hospital to appoint designated staff during night shifts to address patients’ concerns
The new initiative aims to ensure that patients and their families have someone to turn to for assistance and to help expedite the treatment process for those in need of immediate attention
Following concerns raised by patients visiting the Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) during night hours over the lack of support staff and delay in medical services, the hospital administration will appoint designated staff during the night shift to address the patients’ concerns more effectively, officials said.
Dr Eknath Pawar, dean of B J Medical College (BJMC) and SGH, said, “During daytime, all senior administration staff and doctors are available to address the issues faced by patients and their kin. However, during the night shift, most of the senior administration staff is not available at the hospital. During the early hours, we have come across inconvenience faced by patients and their kin.”
Accordingly, an associate professor will be appointed for the night shift who will be the in-charge and head and will address all problems/issues faced by patients and their kin. The casualty medical officer (CMO) and resident medical officer (RMO) will report to the associate professor. The new system to address the patients’ grievances will be implemented from Monday, officials said.
Dr Pawar said that most of the patients visiting the hospital during night shifts need emergency medical care from either the surgical or medicine department. “We will display the number of the concerned CMO and RMO for both the departments. The patients and their kin can contact them on these numbers if they have any problems. Also, the number of the respective associate professors will be displayed at the casualty and patients can contact them if the CMO and RMO are unable to solve their issues,” he said.
Officials said that most of the complaints they come across are about long waiting times, limited medical staff and difficulty accessing screening and diagnostic tests. The new initiative aims to ensure that patients and their families have someone to turn to for assistance and to help expedite the treatment process for those in need of immediate attention, they said.