We at Diagnostic Radiology sincerely apologise to Ms Boneta Phillips.
We are sorry to hear that her experience has not met the high standards we hold. We try to provide the best care for all of our patients and her complaint, as outlined in the letter to the Editor in the Sunday Sun newspaper of December 13, 2015, is being treated with all due consideration.
The fact of the matter is that the Diagnostic Clinic is the oldest medical clinic on the island and its over 50-year-old infrastructure was not built to accommodate people with mobility challenges.
The Radiology Clinic at Beckles Road has had three previous owners over the years. We have been running the clinic for eight years and in this time have done our best to modernise, including retrofitting one of the bathroom doors to swing outwards to accommodate wheelchair access, but have been limited by our very modest space. In addition, the Diagnostic Radiology Clinic is merely a tenant in this facility and as such cannot make any significant changes to the building.
Special needs
We, therefore, encourage people who are disabled to use one of our other three newer health care facilities at Sandy Crest, Warrens or Coverley, which are all outfitted with the necessary accesses and facilities for people with special needs. Unfortunately, in this instance the service required is not offered at any of these facilities at the moment.
In the past, special needs people who attended the Radiology Clinic at Beckles Road would have their caregiver present to help them navigate the more intimate and rudimentary parts of preparing for and having a procedure. We recognise that this is important to patient privacy and dignity, regardless of the facility, and we continue to encourage this practice.
We are cognisant that we have outgrown this facility and are at an advanced stage of planning for a new state-of-the art facility from which the Diagnostic Radiology, Beckles Road, would operate. We thank Ms Phillips for highlighting the issues of being mobility challenged and we invite people with special needs to choose one of our other locations as we work to improve our facilities at Beckles Road.
– PETER HARRIS, director
