Forrest General Hospital officials released a statement Friday morning announcing a partnership with Relias Healthcare to lower wait times in the hospital’s emergency room.
CEO R. Andy Woodard said in the statement that “…response times in the ER for lower acuity (less ill) patients have not met our internal expectations.”
“We can do better,” said Woodard. “We have heard our patients, and we are going to make changes.”
According to the statement, the hospital has partnered with Relias to “assist us in the improvement changes.”
“Relias, along with many of our existing Emergency Medical doctors, will implement fresh ideas to help improve our response times,” he said. “Over the course of the next 12 months, we will also be training our nursing staff on the new processes. We are confident these changes will improve our patient satisfaction.”
Woodard said Forrest General’s ER is the third busiest in the state, averaging approximately 85,000 visits per year.
He also said that the ER treats “over 230 patients per day.”
This story will be updated for the Thursday edition of The PineBelt NEWS.
