QEH executive chairman outlines plans to transform hospital

By Anesta Henry

Executive Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland has outlined a ten-point plan to transform the institution into a more patient-focused and customer friendly facility.

As she delivered remarks at the QEH’s 2019 RESPECT Awards at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre last night, Bynoe-Sutherland also served notice that staff would benefit from the coming improvements.

The QEH executive said the hospital was indebted to Barbadians for the Health Levy, which has yielded BDS$40, 196, 938 to date and advised her team that to whom much was given much was expected.

Bynoe-Sutherland reported that efforts to improve the hospital’s finances had started and it had also managed to clear its debt.

“We strengthened financial management, reporting and internal auditing, completed a comprehensive stock count and engaged auditors to 2021 so external audits outstanding since 2011 can be brought up-to-date to this financial year. We have cleared the outstanding debt to our local and overseas supplies through the BERT programme,” she said.

Bynoe-Sutherland further noted that the QEH was focused on completing the costing of the hospital services and improving financial management by placing greater emphasis on value for money and evidence-based treatment.

She added that the hospital would be launching a major philanthropy push in association with We Gathering 2020.

Detailing aspects of her plan, Bynoe-Sutherland disclosed that an organization-wide campaign on delivering good service would be rolled out through the use of ongoing patient surveys, giving snap awards for exceptional service, and expanding employee recognition and reward systems to highlight great service along with holding poor providers accountable if they fail to meet the high standards.

The QEH boss signalled that the hospital would be implementing new bed management policies, standards and protocols since the shortage of beds remains a major concern at the state-owned institution.

Additionally, new posts, including bed managers and case managers who would focus on ensuring patients benefit from diagnostics tests and procedures in an efficient manner would also be introduced.

Bynoe-Sutherland also outlined that the institution’s waiting list for public patients would be addressed through partnerships with the private sector.

Turning her attention to staff, the QEH executive chairman noted that despite challenging times, which necessitated some cuts, the hospital had not laid off permanent staff, but rather increased temporary contracts from one year to two years to give those workers more security of tenure.

“We know it has been hard, as we have had to reduce or eliminate overtime in some areas and decreased the number of relief staff. But we do this all so we can maintain our permanent staff and we thank everyone for their commitment and sacrifices, “ she said.

She stressed that providing growth opportunities for staff members was also in the works, assuring that particular attention would be paid to boosting morale and ensuring their safety and security.

“Our staff safety is important to us. We are going to strengthen our security to keep staff safe and prevent the loss of equipment and supplies. We will also be launching a zero-tolerance to staff abuse campaign as the amount of aggression, vilification and violence faced by staff is intolerable.  (anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)