As of Monday, 11 April, the Health Services Authority’s General Practice Clinic will be located on the second floor of the Smith Road Medical Centre in George Town.
The move from the Cayman Islands Hospital is part of a three-year, $8 million infrastructure development initiative aimed to further decentralise across Grand Cayman non-surgical medical treatment.
HSA CEO Lizzette Yearwood announced the move at a press conference Wednesday, saying that the GP Clinic will close at 4pm Saturday at the hospital and reopen 8am Monday at the new location.
“We are very happy about this space, it’s going to give a better experience, it’s a purpose-designed and bigger space, and we are very excited to have our patients access it,” she said.
Yearwood said the relocation is one of 35 distinct projects aimed at improving patient access to HSA clinicians. In addition to the services at the Smith Road Centre, the HSA is providing physiotherapy treatment at its Bay Town Plaza location.
“In the next few months, we are going to add additional services to that centre,” she said. “We are going to add radiology, a blood bank and a sports traumatology and a cardiology centre out of the Smith Road centre. So, it is one easy convenient stop for the majority of outpatient services.
The space which is currently being occupied by the GP clinic will be renovated into a paediatric clinic, with a goal of being fully operational by June.
“We have gotten a lot of feedback from our patients that the care in the emergency room isn’t very children-focussed,” said Yearwood. “And with the move, we will be able to extend the operating hours to 7pm Mondays to Fridays.
Yearwood also announced that the Flu Hot Line (947-3077), which was used to help process hundreds of COVID-19 cases, will be rebranded into a 24-hour customer service hotline, which will be “a window into the [new dedicated] patient services team”.
“We want our patients to engage with them because they can help you navigate around the services,” said Yearwood. “We want to hear about your concerns, and if you haven’t had a good experience, because that is the team that can help turn that around.”
Yearwood said people looking to contact the flu hotline with COVID-related questions can still do so.
In addition to the relocation of outpatient services throughout George Town, the HSA will be renovating a section of the West Bay Clinic to allow for two dialysis beds, which are expected to come online within the next two weeks.
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