The King Edward VII Memorial Hospital
A good standard of health care, social services and benefits where needed is provided by the Falkland Islands Health Service.
The new King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (1987) in Stanley is the island's only hospital. It is also the base for dental and community health. It has 29 beds, including 18 acute, a two bed intensive care unit, an isolation unit, maternity bed and seven long stay nursing home beds. For minor surgery there is a theatre, an anaesthetic room and a pharmacy. Outpatient and community care facilities include two dental surgeries and a day centre. Care to the camp is provided by telephone consultation and doctors’ visits, or the patient being taken to Stanley by the Falkland Islands Government Air Service. Specialist services are provided by visiting consultants or if deemed urgent a patient may be referred to the UK through an arrangement with the Department of Health, or Santiago in Chile. Emergencies unable to be treated in Stanley are flown to Uruguay or Chile. Both the number of hospital beds per 1000 population and the ratio of doctors per 1000 rank highly amongst other developed nations.
Social care for children, older people, or those with mental health problems or disabilities, is handled by a social services team. This includes sheltered housing and a warden service. They also handle the probation service. |
