New QEH board to shake up delivery of patient services

A new board of management that will take a private sector approach to customer service at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) will be appointed in a matter of days, Minister of Health and Wellness Ian Gooding-Edghill has disclosed.

Responding to complaints about the quality of service in the Accident & Emergency Department, outpatient clinics, ophthalmology and surgeries at the country’s primary healthcare facility, he said the new board will be tasked with creating a department solely responsible for patient relations, similar to the “guest relations” component of a hotel operation.

“The new board will be mandated to implement a new patient relations service concept which would, in my judgment, revolutionise the concept of service and become even more patient-centred,” Gooding-Edghill, who was appointed Health Minister by Prime Minister Mia Mottley after the January 19 general elections, said on VOB’s Down-to-Brass-Tacks call-in radio programme on Tuesday.

“In hospitality, you have the concept of guest relations. Patient relations essentially will be persons who are trained and who have a customer service background already obtained in the hospital already – they will be charged with interacting with patients to improve their perception of service and to also advise them, for example, if there are any delays, why there are delays and why the delays are necessary,” explained Gooding-Edghill, who has spent nearly all his working life in the hospitality industry.

He said the new approach will also create the opportunity for patients to have a focal point with whom to liaise.

“And if they have that person to liaise with, that person would be better able to report to the management of the hospital what are the concerns and how best we can improve it. But, at the end of the day, everything must be measured because that is how we will have to focus our future philosophy of the hospital,” the Health Minister said.

He said the new board will be made up of “persons who are very skilled in their respective disciplines who, I believe, can advance the cause of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital”.

“On the medical side, there is no shortage of knowledge, but what we need to have now is a more commercial approach, because part of it is the clinical side but the other side has to do with a lot of financing and how we improve systems and processes. The new board, when it is announced, will reflect the new thinking and the new direction for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” he said, noting that there was only “one more item to finalise” before the board is made public.

Gooding-Edghill promised improved communication between hospital departments, like the outpatient clinic, and clients, amid complaints that many patients were showing up only to find the clinic closed.

He added that hospital management will require reports to be compiled indicating why cancellations are occurring and what corrective actions should be taken.

According to Gooding-Edghill, an action plan for the hospital, which runs on well over $200 million per annum, is in the works. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb