Percy Junor Hospital Staff Receives Customer Service Training

As the Percy Junor Hospital in Manchester strives to become the most “customer friendly” hospital in the island, some 96 per cent of the staff has received customer service training this year.
According to Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the hospital, Joan Tomlinson, the aim is to have all staff trained in this essential area so as to further meet the needs of patients.
“Each staff member is a customer service representative, so if a client should inquire about the services from the security guard, nurse, or anyone, they will be able to provide the information about the hospital,” she told JIS News, adding that the concept was part of the hospital’s motto, ‘Together Everyone Will Achieve More’.
The training process, the Acting CEO further explained, was intensified as the hospital partnered with the HEART Trust/NTA this year. Previously it was only Mrs. Tomlinson, who has 19 years of experience in customer service training along with the Parish Manager, matrons and public health and staff nurses in charge of in house training, who comprised the team offering training at the facility.
Although training is an ongoing activity at the hospital, sessions are currently on hiatus and will resume in September. “Every year we have refreshers customer service training,” she pointed out.
Indicative of the hospital’s seriousness about becoming the trendsetter in healthcare service delivery in Jamaica is its Citizen Charter, which was unveiled last year.
The Customer Charter outlines the responsibility and service standards expected to be provided by the hospital to customers and also includes the rights and responsibilities of customers.
For the Acting CEO, this was a defining moment in the history of the medical institution as it has positively impacted on service delivery. “It serves as reminder to all of us in terms of what the client expects of us,” she said.
Indeed, the hospital is on the right track, as it copped the best hospital award for 2005/06 at the Public Sector Customer Service Competition Ceremony earlier this year.
The Percy Junor Hospital was completed in 1945 and handed over to the Government of Jamaica, by the late Percivel Junor, a businessman in the community and a Justice of the Peace.
The type C hospital, which offers selected surgical services and provides, medical, paediatric and maternal services, sits on 20 acres of land. It serves 250,000 residents in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester, Trelawny and St. Ann and presently has a staff of 210.