Siriraj's new private arm - Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital - sets out to make a difference
At first glance, there's little to differentiate Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital (SiPH) from any of Bangkok's other private hospitals. The building is modern, the clinics spacious and well equipped and the medical staff move around with a sense of urgent discretion.
Yet SiPH, which celebrated its first anniversary last week, is very different. Set up by its namesake's medical faculty to take some of the strain off Siriraj Hospital, it nonetheless operates with the same philosophy, which is to serve the Thai people.
In the planning for more than 10 years, SiPH is located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River not far from its older sibling and provides an alternative medical service that revolves around its patients being both "recipient" and "giver".
"Service fees are charged at a reasonable rate to properly cover hospital operations as well as help to fund the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, which provides treatment to the underprivileged," explains hospital director Professor Pradit Panchavinnin. "This represents a new dimension for public hospitals. SiPH aims to help the development of Siriraj as well as assist Thai medical professionals in maintaining a high standard of excellence capable of competing at the international level.
"The patients here are thus recipients and givers at the same time. All profits are returned to Siriraj Hospital Foundation so we cannot accept social security patients," he adds.
"We are intending to expand our medical services especially through the development of the Complex Disease Treatment Centre. Since we opened last April, we have been running an Internal Medicine Centre and Surgical Centre, along with specialised centres for cancer, the heart, orthopaedics, urology and kidney. They rely on the versatility and abilities of our doctors, nurses, and modern medical equipment," Pradit says.
Overall operations throughout the past year have enjoyed success, meeting all intended goals and receiving high praise from patients. Outpatients have increased from between 1,500 and 2,000 a month to around 12,000. Inpatient services have an occupancy rate of nearly 100 per cent, resulting in a waiting list for patient services.
"The hospital administration is planning an expansion of services to accommodate more patients. Expansion will be done in phases, with additional areas of service being opened up to increase capacity by up to 25-30 per cent per year," Pradit says.
"The large majority of patients use the services of our Internal Medicine Centre, which treats such commonly-encountered diseases as heart disease, strokes, diabetes and neuropathy."
The hospital has 99 beds and the capacity to treat more than 700 patients per day. Thirty per cent of the floor space is taken up by nine intensive care rooms, eight coronary care rooms and 82 general care rooms, so there's plenty of room for growth.
Most of the patients are Bangkokians. While the hospital does accept a few foreigners, these are not allowed to make up more than 10 per cent of patients and must bring their own translators. "Our first priority is to the Thai people though obviously if foreign patients are transferred from other hospitals for complicated treatment, we will not raise an objection but the translator rule still applies," Pradit says.
While offering the service and management standards expected of a leading private hospital, SiPH's fees are about 80 per cent of those charged by other private facilities
"As we are a non-profit organisation, we do not aim to compete with private hospitals. Nor are we in competition with them.
"We had two major reasons for establishing SiPH. First was that under the Siriraj umbrella, the hospitals, medical institute, research and development must be able to fund themselves. Secondly, we want to prevent the constant brain drain. In 2003, there were about 23 private hospitals; in 2012 that number had increased to 98. One of our regulations is that all clinical doctors and medical advisers are Siriraj's doctors, though full time doctors, of whom we have only 24 right now, can be qualified doctors from anywhere," Pradit says.
In an effort to improve the quality of general service, an emphasis has been placed on the use of information systems, operation support systems, and hospital management practices. These processes cover patient registration, medical records, drug prescriptions, and financial records, helping the patient experience to be more convenient, hassle-free and friendly.
"This year, SiPH has set a goal to be recognised by the Joint Commission International for its high standards in treatment and safety. We are also striving to be the most trusted hospital in Thailand by 2016," he says.
As part of its first year celebrations, the hospital organised an activity called "Heart of Volunteers", drawing together physicians, patients and their family members, artists and celebrities to act as "Givers" throughout Siriraj Hospital by visiting and entertaining sick kids in the Child Development Unit. A blood drive was also held to bolster the Department of Medicine's stocks.
The event also saw A-listers Surin Totaptieng and Arunosha Bhanubandh offering their impressions of the hospital. Surin admitted that he used to feel bad about visiting Siriraj Hospital in the past because he had to squeeze into the queue. "I have great trust and admiration for doctors. At SiPH, I'm always asked if I mind an early appointment so that my doctor can take care of more patients during the day."
Arunosha says her 80-year-old mother has received excellent service following her recent heart surgery at the hospital.
And because all the rooms have great views over the Chao Phraya, Pradit adds that most of the hospital's kidney patients postponed their dialysis sessions by a few days so they could watch last year's Royal Barge Ceremony.
THE BEST OF CARE
- Parking is provided for up to 1,000 vehicles. The hospital has 177 outpatient treatment rooms, 17 surgical rooms, 284 rooms for general treatment as well as 20 rooms for dialysis treatment.
- Each is fitted is with modern medical equipment including state-of-the-art MRI machines and LINAC machines, which use optical radiation to treat cancer patients.
- SiPH is expected to be 100 percent operational by 2016.
- Call centre 1474; www.SiPHHospital.com
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/05/02/a-vision-of-excellence/
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