There are very few people in this island who have not had to seek medical attention at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) for themselves or a relative during their lifetime.
The Martindale’s Road, St Michael institution is inextricably linked to our lives. It is the country’s primary acute care medical institution. It is where most babies are born each year, where most surgeries are conducted, and unfortunately, where many deaths also take place.
Despite its role as a public facility at which Barbadians can access care whether or not they have money, the QEH is also regarded as the best place to access emergency care for very serious health challenges.
Its near 600 beds, surgical facilities, experienced consultants and nursing staff should make it the ideal healthcare facility of choice for citizens.
In fact, it was not that long ago that high-profile patients from across the Eastern Caribbean would travel to Barbados assured they would receive a standard of care that was comparable to what would be expected in a modern facility in the developed world.
Alas, the reputation of this 60-year-old institution has taken a hit. The hospital is struggling to emerge from under a deluge of criticism about the quality of care provided, the performance and attitude of its staff, and, of course, the extensively long wait times to access care at the Accident and Emergency Department (AED).
It is the AED that has received the brunt of public criticism. In fact, it is not uncommon for people to instruct their families that under no circumstances are they to be taken to the QEH unless it is a life-or-death situation.
For elderly citizens, the hospital has unfortunately become a place of fear that death could be the likely outcome rather than recovery.
This constant and often justifiable criticism from the public, featuring heartbreaking stories of 48-hour or longer waits for treatment, often overshadow the excellent work and service provided by medical personnel and all those staffers who keep the hospital going every hour of every day.
Why have Barbadians seemingly lost confidence in such a vital institution, one that they are likely to require at some point in their lives?
The institution and those responsible for its funding, management and operation must take the blame. Despite requiring significant taxpayers’ funding to provide the public service, too many of the hospital functionaries have apparently come to the conclusion that it is now mainly serving the poor and elderly and so the quality of service and interaction are not the priorities.
If this is true, then Barbadians should not be surprised at the development of a two-tier health system in the country. One caters to those who can pay for care at the many private, high-priced facilities that have popped up and the other is the public system of the QEH and polyclinics that are accessed by those of less means.
In those circumstances, one cannot blame Barbadians for the level of cynicism attached to the promises of new QEH chief executive officer Neil Clark.
Mr Clarke, a British hospital administrator, is new on the job and enthusiastic about what he can possibly achieve, including solving the AED deficiencies.
He wants a new information technology system to address doctors’ ability to respond to the surges in the department.
“That system would link together all the departments in the hospital, and we would work with the vendor to identify the roll-out,” the new hospital CEO said in his first media interview.
Further, he revealed the hospital did not have “many information systems” and the institution needed to “automatically capture information to pre-warn us that the number of patients in the A&E is higher than normal”.
Clarke acknowledged his task is mammoth due to the number of issues confronting the institution at the same time.
He added: “We also have to work with the polyclinics, the Ministry of Health and the private sector to identify what alternative services are out there and work with the public to educate them about what’s the alternative of the A&E and what the A&E Department is really for.”
All that the hospital chief has said is true. However, there is another factor that must be considered – the economic situation. It is impacting the health of citizens, the food choices they make, and their decisions to choose public health care rather than private care.
No one wants to be at a hospital unless they absolutely must. If large numbers arrive at the QEH in need of care, this points to other indicators as well.
