Hospital transport and Outpatients Department

With reference to a letter by Miss Ileana Curmi (The Sunday Times, August 8), we investigated this case and would like to apologise and show our sympathy for any inconvenience caused due to a delayed transport service.

St Luke's Hospital provides a transport service for about 150 patients a day, allowing patients with mobility problems/frail and elderly patients easier access to hospital services.

The incident that occurred on July 26 was extremely unfortunate as the transport vehicle broke down. Its replacement arrived at 9.45 a.m. due to the fact that it was transporting other patients to St Luke's Hospital, after which it was immediately dispatched on a second trip to pick up these patients, including the elderly gentleman.

I am sure it is understood that outpatient clinics are not the sole responsibility of our doctors. As soon as the outpatient consultations are carried out, the doctors proceed to the wards and see patients on the wards. Therefore it is often not possible to keep on waiting for patients at the outpatient clinics.

Nevertheless the hospital responsibility lies with providing patient care as and when required. I would advise this gentleman to contact our customer care office as they will definitely try to ensure that the patient obtains the required care, depending on the clinical urgency of the case. May I take this opportunity to urge the public to use our Customer Care Services Department. For any queries or questions about services offered at St Luke's Hospital, one should call 2595-1543, 2595-1474 or 2595-1101 or e-mail customercareslh@gov.mt