QEH Remedy

HEALTH MINISTER OUTLINES MEASURES TO FIX PROBLEMS AT PUBLIC HOSPITAL

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr the Most Honourable Jerome Walcott on Wednesday prescribed measures to boost delivery of the island’s health care services this financial year, with major plans to improve patient care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
Speaking in the well of Parliament flanked by top health care officials, Walcott, whose ministry has been allocated $265 420 640 in the 2023-2024 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, said the overall mission would seek to remedy recurring issues at the QEH, address the scourge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), reform the mental health programme, tackle the worrying new and emerging growing anti-microbial resistance, strengthen health information systems, address the issues of climate change on health, and identify a stable health financing model.
Zeroing in on the island’s main healthcare facility, he not only pledged improvements to the bothersome delays patients experience in the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) but outlined plans for an increase in operating theatres, the reopening of a Minor Cases Unit and a new cardiology project.
He told the Lower Chamber that completing the refurbishment of the A&E under phase 3 of the department’s expansion is a priority and that along with other initiatives, would help to address the delays that have sparked strong public outcry.
“We plan to reestablish a Minor Cases Unit which will cover non-urgent cases. We plan to reduce the delays in patients being assessed by other specialities, to expand the number of beds in the Intensive Care Unit to reduce the need for critical patients to stay in A&E for long periods. “Additionally, two new operating theatres will be in use by the end of the financial year, moving the total from seven to nine. Resources are being sought to maintain these nine theatres and to move on to ten operating days, lasting ten hours. Surgeries could start at 8 [a.m.] and continue to 6 in the evening as obtained in the past,” Dr Walcott added.
Announcing a new project, the Health Minister disclosed that special attention will be paid to reducing the number of deaths from heart attacks.
“We will have a new cardiology project which seeks to reduce the mortality of persons who have heart attacks and it speaks to the utilisation of the cardiac suite 24 hours daily for the establishment of a chest pain unit in the Accident and Emergency Department,” he said.
Dr Walcott told the House that during the last year, the hospital completed a comprehensive five-year capitalisation plan to identify all the equipment and infrastructure which will be needed to improve the delivery of health care over the next five years.
“The total has come to just over $130 million and we have already started discussions with financial institutions. It is anticipated that the QEH will obtain a loan of $130 million, not to be disbursed at one time but certainly over the five-year period to facilitate the replacement of equipment and infrastructural works that are needed to improve that institution,” he said.
Dr Walcott further revealed that eight capital projects will be funded under the European Union Investment Project to the tune of 31 million Euros (BDS$66.2 million).
“These include a new waste management project for the QEH… a morgue refurbishment, the refurbishment of the Lion’s Eye Care Centre to bring it back into functionality with three operating theatres; also, the supply and installation of a new ventilation system, the hospital information system, a new hospital laboratory at Enmore and a multi-storey building at Enmore,” the minister disclosed.
The Government is also moving to strengthen the hospital’s information technology system which was recently hard hit by a cyber attack.
According to Walcott, grant funding has been accessed from the European Union to finance an information system for the QEH.
sandydeane@barbadostoday.bb