BVI Health

with pre-existing conditions - they are querying us prior to scheduling their vacations. And seeing the gold seal, they see that a particular service is meeting the US or UK standards.” Other items on Baptiste’s to-do list includeworking withTortola’s one private hospital,the Bougainvillea Clinic,to develop a physician enterprise in order to ensure that patient services are not being duplicat- ed,while riskand accountabilityare being shared; and helping to promote medical tourism,wherein patients from outside the Territory come to the BVI for medical services. In addition, she says that she would like to consolidate the community clinics from nine down to five,while concurrently increas- ing the level of services at those clinics in order to keep people out of the hospital whenever possible. In the end, however, Baptiste insists that BVIHSA’s main priority will always be focused on patient care.“The healthcare industry is evolving and we’ve grown exponentially over the last four years,” she remarks. “So, it’s really important for us to main- tain our position within the healthcare sector in the BVI, but also stay focused on the patient. Everything else leads to that priority.” “We’re looking to be an accredited facility in the next 18 to 24 months,” she explains.We’ve done both: JCI, which is Joint Commission International, and we’ve done DNV (Det Norske Veritas) Interna- tional. So we just finished both surveys and we’re trying to see which one would be the best fit for us in the international market. That gives the assur- ance to the residents that we meet the minimum standards for quality. It speaks to our beside care, the way we handle inspections, and the way per- sons are referred out of the Territory, because the continuity of care is really important. So we meet all the national or international standards that any hospital in the US or the UK would meet.” Becoming accredited also helps the Territory assure visitors that its healthcare system is top notch. “And that attracts tourists,” Baptiste adds. “It puts us in the ranking of high-quality care. One thing that we’re noticing, especially in the outer islands – the high-end tourist, those persons who have high medical knowledge, and are coming in THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS HEALTH SERVICES AUTHORITY DR. JUNE SAMUEL MBBS DM (PSYCH.) CHIEF OF MEDICAL STAFF