QEH ‘protecting A&E staff from COVID-19’

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department said today it is ensuring that any potential cases of COVID-19 discovered at that facility are kept away from other patients in need of their services.

Consultant physician Dr Chaynie Williams urged Barbadians to be aware that the department is operating under challenging conditions since renovation work had started there shortly before the first COVID-19 cases were identified here.

Speaking on Voice of Barbados’ Down to Brass Tacks, Dr Williams said: “People with siginificant respiratory distress still come to the A & E, like heart patients and asthmatics. The QEH, in an effort to protect the staff and other patients,  separates COVID patients from the rest of the population.

“Since the renovations started, the department is now on two levels. The main department is on the ground floor, and we have identified rooms for those with life threatening breathing difficulties where we can isolate them till we know their status.

“Once they are displaying signs of COVID-19 we will transfer them out, either to the Blackman and Gollop Primary School for the milder cases, or Enmore for the more serious ones.

“The A & E is still a 24-hour operation. We refer mild cases to the Sir Winston Scott 24-hour Polyclinic, and as part of the national plan, we are encouraging anyone with respiratory complaints to call the COVID-19 hotline to see where they can access care rather than coming to the hospital.”

She said the Infection Control Department at the hospital had been doing a good job long before the outbreak of COVID-19, and ever since then, doctors have been learning from the examples of their peers in other countries where the illness has reached alarming proportions.

Dr Williams said: “Our Infection Control people were trained before, but there is no playbook for COVID-19. We are learning from our colleagues outside, and as such we have to respond to the challenges that present themselves, and I would say so far the department’s clinical care and support staff have gone above and beyond their call of duty.”