A team of healthcare professionals from the United Kingdom visited Anguilla earlier this month to assess the quality of the island’s services.
Led by Professor Ian Cumming, UK’s health ambassador to the overseas territories, the four visitors focused their attention mainly on the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Health minister Cardigan Connor told a government press conference on 10 November that the team will now begin preparing a report.
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This will “provide valuable, objective feedback to guide further service improvements at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and across our health system”, he said.
“We thank the governor’s office, who which was our instrumental in arranging this mission, and the visiting team for their constructive engagement, and we look forward to the report and recommendations.”
After a similar successful exercise in the Falkland Islands, the approach was deemed suitable for other UK overseas territories – beginning with Anguilla and then Montserrat.
In April, Evans McNiel Rogers, Anguilla’s senior ministerial advisor for health, told a government press conference there was a “dire need” for a new facility to replace the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
He said he was “very optimistic” the government would be able to fund a new fit-for purpose hospital within the next five years.
McNiel Rogers suggested that a 160-165 bed hospital “with all the bells and whistles” would cost about US$35-40 million and it is his intention to work towards that goal.
Princess Alexandra Hospital in The Valley offers a range of medical services including emergency care, surgery and specialist treatments.
The healthcare facility faces several issues including limited resources, space constraints, infrastructure issues and dependance on external support.
