Facilities at the state hospital not adequate for modern-day needs

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) which was built over 50 years ago was not designed to deal with 2022 issues.

That is the view of Senator Dr Crystal Haynes who today admitted that the hospital’s resources were outstripped and it was operating with a “litany of woes”.

She made the comments during debate on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Amendment Bill, 2022, in the Upper House this afternoon.

The amendment will see an increase in the number of board members at the QEH from 13 to 15.

Dr Haynes said that the new board would be charged with ensuring that the QEH is able to meet the daily needs of its staff and patients.

“A quick listen on any programme on any given day you can hear a litany of woes coming out of the institution. What we have to understand is that the hospital that was established in 1964 was not built to meet the needs of today and what this new board will have to do is to ensure that the QEH is positioned for the needs of the population and the challenges that will be emerging in the future.

“The bed capacity at opening in 1964 was 464 beds. In 58 years, our bed count has increased only by 90 while the general population has increased by 70, 000 people. Annually there has been a doubling of the throughput in admissions to the QEH, so what is clear there is that you have an outstripping of the established resources based on the needs of the population,” Dr Haynes pointed out.

“The toll is just not in relation to the physical plant but the toll is also on our human resources. Many times you talk to any doctor or any nurse and you’re going to hear complaints of burnout, having to work long hours, doubling up on shifts and so on. So while we seek to position the hospital for the future, we can’t neglect to also ensure that we are taking care of the needs of our staffing community because ultimately the care that patients receive is based on the care that can be given based on where our staff is.” (RB)