As the staff of the Clarevue Psychiatric Hospital continue their protest for better working conditions, Minister of Health Molwyn Joseph has asked for a full investigation to ascertain information about family members of the patients there, especially those well enough to be discharged.
According to him, those families have decided, unlawfully, to leave their loved ones at the hospital and this has given rise to some of the outstanding issues.
Clarevue currently houses 130 patients. “Some of them should not be there,” Joseph said. “They are well enough to go home and we want to know who are these families that are not coming to take care of their loved ones and to have them at home.”
He also explained that there are patients with acute mental issues who deserve constant attention, and that patients need to be separated based on the level of illnesses; therefore the nurses have been assigned to help remedy the problem.
However, the Minister of Health is recommending that the government should develop a program or strategy to separate the patients – especially those who are not severely ill – in order to improve the conditions for both workers and patients.
Joseph also elaborated on the sanitation issue in the hospital. He said the bathrooms are usually in a bad state because of the “plucking” of the toilets by idle and mentally ill residents.
To remedy this problem, Minister Joseph said, “We have decided to use sensors; toilets with sensors as well as purchase toilets that are made out of steel. In that way, we can improve the sanitation and at the same time eliminate some of the opportunities or problems of damage to the facilities.”