Pursue the goal of curing at a pleasant environment

DECENTRALIZATION. In the constant process of growth, the British Hospital opened a complete Polyclinic in Carrasco. Since Thursday 30th of July, the British Hospital Polyclinic of Carrasco has been available for all members, a nonprofit organization strongly linked to the British community. The opening of this Polyclinic represents the first milestone of the institution decentralization, where the head office has been located in the area of Tres Cruces since 1913. However, for several years the British Hospital has been immersed in a process of its facilities´ expansion and improvement, which has been financed thanks to its own resources and to the administration and reinvestment of them. The newly opened Polyclinic was built on Bolivia Avenue, between Murillo and Mones Roses street, and, regarding this milestone, "Café" and "Negocios" spoke about details of its implementation with Sandra Bogado, the British Hospital Business and Marketing Manager. She mentioned that the place was chosen according to some users´ requirements: “we are permanently carrying out satisfactory surveys among our members. Many of them have been expressing the need of a Polyclinic in Carrasco, so we started searching for the pysical space in order to build it.” When she was asked about the investment for the Polyclinic edification, Bogado preferred not to mention costs. Staying close and being accessible Many of the British Hospital members live in Montevideo neighborhoods, Pocitos, Punta Carretas and Carrasco, as Bogado said. This is one of the reasons that makes the alternative of Carrasco the most suitable area for the construction of a first decentralized polyclinic. This is an area of Montevideo that is in expansion. In addition, to those who live in Carrasco and in the surroundings, it is often difficult to access quickly to the main building services due to the distance, mentioned Bogado. Thus, the access to patients is easier in the area that they should attend to frequent medical appointments, not only in case of a specific treatment, but also for other reasons. About three years ago, trying to be friendly with the environment we chose, we started searching for an appropriate place for the new edification. After a process which involves defining the extent given to the proposal, we reached to the opening of a polyclinic of 3500 square meters, where scheduled appointments service of high demand specialties among members will be offered. Characteristics and services All high complex services such as urgency, emergency and hospitalization will continue been centralized at the main centre in Italy Avenue. In a first stage in Carrasco Clinical Center, appointments will be given in offices which are situated in the ground floor, the first and the second floor. The destination for the third floor has not been clarified by the organization yet. General medicine, orthopeadics, physical medicine, physical therapy, radiology, ultrasound -in their different types-, ophthalmology, child and adult psychiatry, dermatology and pediatrics are some of the specialties available. Furthermore, on the ground floor there´s a laboratory for samples extractions for different clinical studies, which are sent to the laboratory in the main building in Italy Avenue for the right process. The Parking which is located in the ground floor has room for 60 vehicles, a service designed for both, members and hospital doctors. Quality and training When Sandra Bogado was asked about the permanent challenge of keeping the service quality making the difference in comparison to private health insurances, she answered that is one of the greatest worries for the Institution. “For us it is of vital importance to work on the quality of attention, the kindness in dealing with members and the continuous training of the technical team”, she said. She also mentioned the importance of making the patient feel comfortable. In that context, Bogado defined that the Institution permanent search is “to cure in a pleasant environment”. Therefore, when the new polyclinic decoration was defined, it was thought about a pleasant place of refined appearance, where there would be a prevalence of light-colored furniture and soft lighting. Moreover, in each area of the polyclinic there is a private waiting room. Promoting the development of the Polyclinic In addition to the inauguration of the new polyclinic, in March the British Hospital opened doors of a new hospitalization building on Morales Street, which has a new Intensive Care Unit for adults with twelve boxes for the care of patients in critical condition. As well as this, there are four rooms for intermediate care. The rest of the building has 58 rooms for general hospitalization, for the expansion of services in certain areas. “Our members demand in terms of improving our attention is permanent. Therefore, it is essential for the organization to keep the idea of expanding ourselves and generating new physical spaces in order to meet these requirements”, Sandra Bogado said about it. She added that for both the Central building and Carrasco Polyclinic, the idea was to temporarily keep spaces “with no defined destination”, so when time comes it would be possible the incorporation of new techniques and services, such as the third floor of the polyclinic.