‘Not so long’

A&E head denies claims of two-day wait for treatment By Emmanuel Joseph The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) has “categorically” rejected claims making the rounds on social media that patients have to wait as long as two days in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department before getting treatment. Head of the A&E Department at the QEH Dr Anne-Marie Cruickshank on Tuesday sought to give clarity to a statement she made the night before on CBC’s People’s Business current affairs programme that patients could spend as many as two days in that section of the hospital going through a thorough treatment process. She said people’s understanding of what she said seemed to have stopped at “two days” and they failed to grasp the entirety of her point. She explained that the entire treatment process could take days and not that people had to wait that long before seeing a doctor. A viewer had called in claiming that two elderly friends had to wait two days in A&E before being seen. “No, that would not be real,” Dr Cruickshank told Barbados TODAY in a video statement as she sought to clear the air on the issue. “A patient who comes into the Accident & Emergency Department would be seen by a triage nurse. The nurse would take a brief history, would assign an acuity score, what we call a Canadian acuity score. As we mentioned before, there are five scores…and depending on what the score is, initial treatment is started…and that could be your bloods, pain relief, chest X-ray, ECG, a CAT scan would be done. “You will then wait to see the doctor and once you are called into the doctor, the doctor will then do a more in-depth history, would examine you thoroughly and make several differential diagnoses…because it does take time to come to a definitive diagnosis for someone,” the A&E head contended. She said after patients are thoroughly examined, a decision is made, depending on the diagnosis, what specialist needed to see the patient. “[The specialist] would do a consultation on the patient. From there, if the patient needs to be admitted, further investigations and further treatment have to be done. The whole process can take some time. They will then, if needed, be admitted, and if they are not admitted, they would be observed before being safely discharged,” Dr Cruickshank added. She said the department faces several challenges, such as the elderly “who are abandoned in Accident & Emergency”, and noted that a lot of time was spent on treating those individuals. “So we do have challenges that can take the time of the medical and nursing staff.” Dr Cruickshank said the QEH remains “very” concerned about those elderly patients who are abandoned, ready for discharge and are occupying bed space. She appealed to members of the public to work with the hospital and collect their elderly relatives when contacted to do so. The Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) is expected to respond later. emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb]]>