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Government Wins National Award for COVID-19 Field Hospital Project
On Monday, 16 November, the UK Association for Project Management awarded the Cayman Islands Government winner of the social project of the year category. This was in recognition of the cross-sector project management approach taken for the construction and delivery of the field hospital that was set up to support the Cayman Islands’ COVID-19 preparedness strategy.
The Association for Project Management (APM) is the only chartered body for the project profession, with over 30,000 individual members worldwide. They are committed to developing and promoting the value of project management in order to deliver improved project outcomes for the benefit of society.
The field hospital project was co-ordinated by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) and involved a collaboration across the government, private sector and charity sector to deliver bed capacity for the Health Services Authority (HSA) to be used in the event that the existing hospital capacity became insufficient.
The APM judges noted that the project had been delivered professionally, at pace, to provide the Cayman Islands with resilience capability and reassurance to the community. It was judged a successful response to an extraordinary set of circumstances.
Graeme Jackson, who had been seconded to the National Emergency Operations Centre, said: “It was an incredible project and my thanks and appreciation go out to everyone who turned an idea into a reality in a few weeks. This included various Government departments, the Church of God Family Life Centre and private sector partners all focused on creating capability for the Health Services Authority.”
Mr. Jackson added: “The recognition by APM is yet another example of the Cayman Islands delivering world-class services, in addition to its enviable positioning as one of the safest countries in the world when it comes to our COVID-19 response.”
Deputy Governor, Hon. Franz Manderson, said: “We are delighted that our Civil Service has been recognised for their world-class project management skills and for such an important project, which - thankfully - we have not had to utilise. Social project of the year is a tough category and I commend the other strong nominees in the category.”
The facility is currently set up for 80 beds, with capacity to expand to 100.
