By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times

The hiring of 40 new staff at the El Paso VA Health Care System already has improved the satisfaction of veterans using the system, said James Peake, secretary of Veterans Affairs, during a Monday morning news conference.

Peake traveled to El Paso to meet with staff after an internal survey on patient satisfation ranked the El Paso system last in the nation.

"It's not where we want it yet, but we'll get there," said Peake, who added that about 100 more staff will be hired.

Peake, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Rep. Silvestre Reyes and El Paso Mayor John Cook were present at the news conference and were among those briefed Monday morning. Peake was scheduled to walk over to Beaumont Army Medical Center for more briefings.

"A few months ago, we got a report that wasn't good and the secretary was the first one to say he wanted to come to El Paso," Hutchison said, adding that the meetings were designed to "reverse a trend that no one likes."

"Everyone loves the service they get here, it's just that access has been delayed."

And, with nearly 30,000 soldiers in the process of arriving at Fort Bliss during about a 12-year period, "the VA is going to need a bigger facility as well," she said. "This will be a major part of the planning for growth at Fort Bliss."

Hutchison said a "huge increase" in military construction funding is coming to Fort Bliss.

"I'm going to be right on top of making sure all that growth happens in a timely way, including health care," Hutchison said.

Reyes, who revealed the problems about a month ago and met with VA staff then, promised to "stay on top of this issue until we're satisfied that everything has been resolved."

Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.