The Ministry of Health and Wellness is expanding the suite of specialist healthcare offered at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover. 

It says four clinics specialising in medical, pediatric, surgical and urology, starting next month. 

At a media briefing following a tour of the hospital on Thursday, July 20, clinical coordinator of the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Dr Delroy Fray, said the specialist clinics will deliver a higher level and quality of care to patients in Hanover. 

“We see the need to open some specialist clinics here and this will enable patients to decide to avoid travelling all the way over to Cornwall Regional Hospital [in St James],” he pointed out. 

Fray noted that the surgical clinic, which is expected to commence operation in August, is critical, as the hospital receives many trauma patients from road accidents along the corridor leading to Negril. 

“They come here, and we want to have top level care that can stabilise these patients and move them into definitive care,” he noted. 

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, commended the work of the WRHA and the Hanover health team, and their continued efforts to make improvements. 

He said that “he is comfortable that Noel Holmes is in a good place to respond to medical issues and the future…will see other forms of improvements”.