More people made outpatient and casualty visits to the Health Services Authority last year than ever before, the latest national statistics show.
The numbers, from the Economics and Statistics Office’s Compendium of Statistics, released this month, show a hike of more than 67,000 visits – with 183,344 recorded in 2023 and 116,036 in 2022 – from people seeking medical assistance within the public health system.
There was also an increase in the number of patients being admitted as in-patients to George Town Hospital – 5,544 last year versus 5,232 in 2022.
The data, supplied to the Economics and Statistics Office by the HSA’s statistics unit, also show a large jump in the number of patients visiting district clinics, with 59,115 visits in 2023 versus 29,992 the year before.
Growing population size
Rather than a sicker population, part of the reason, the HSA says, for the hike in patient numbers is Cayman’s increasing population size, which, according to the statistics, stood at 84,738 by end of 2023.
Another reason, says acting CEO of the Health Services Authority Dr. Vinton Douglas, is because the HSA has expanded the services it offers to the public.
Douglas told the Compass in an emailed response to queries, “In 2023, our new urgent care clinic gained popularity and expanded hours and staffing.
“We also have increased staffing and services through our A&E expansion, EMS, therapy services (physio, occupational, speech), mental health, home visits, and specialist services such as ENT & Women’s Health.
“New services lines were also launched, including Alex’s Place (adolescent mental health hub), Neurosurgery and Geriatrics. Various clinics/services have expanded hours, including operating theatre, specialist/orthopaedic weekend clinics, in order to accommodate the increase in patient load.”
More people were visiting their dentists as well – 37,861 in 2023 compared to 26,232 in 2022.
The HSA spokesperson acknowledged this, saying its main dental clinic at the hospital and the nearby Merren Dental Clinic continued to see a rise in patient load, noting that they had also added more staff and carried out updates and renovations to the dental space.
Nearly 10,000 more x-rays and ultrasounds were carried out at the HSA, with 49,075 in 2023 compared to 39,157 in 2022.
Additional staff
To deal with the rising number of patients, the HSA hired more than 100 additional health professionals at George Town Hospital in 2023, bumping up the staff numbers from 705 in 2022 to 810 last year. This includes an extra 12 doctors, 54 nurses and 40 other professionals.
Over in the private sector, according to the statistics, there was a slight drop in the number of health professionals – from 1,390 in 2022 to 1,248 last year, with 18 fewer doctors and 62 fewer nurses.
Public health nurses were kept busy with nearly 20,000 more home and clinic visits last year than the year before. In 2023, they attended to 53,877 visits, compared to 34,573 in 2022.
There was also an increase in physiotherapy and occupational therapy sessions offered by the HSA – 25,068 last year compared to 20,925 in 2022.
More than 2,500 more ambulance calls-outs were recorded – 12,865 in 2023, compared to 10,528 in 2022.
Leading causes of death
The statistics showed, as they have for many years, that the leading cause of death in Cayman is cardiovascular disease. Last year, it killed 121 people in Cayman, accounting for 37.3% of all deaths. Of those, 73 were men and 48 were women.
The second leading cause of death was cancer, which led to the deaths of 61 people (18.8%), followed by what is classified as ‘unintentional injuries’, which includes vehicle accidents, drownings, etc., which claimed the lives of 26 people (8%) in 2023.
The statistics show that Cayman’s population, by the end of 2023, had climbed to 84,738, reflecting a growth rate of 3.9% or 3,192 people over the 2022 figure.
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