Digital overhaul of QEH to begin ‘soon’

The much-anticipated digital overhaul of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is set to begin soon, marking the start of a health information transformation aimed at ending the chronic loss of patient files and easing pressure on staff, health minister Davidson Ishmael told the House of Assembly on Tuesday.

He told lawmakers he would shortly deliver a public statement on the launch and sought to assure Barbadians that the long-standing problem of missing medical files would finally be resolved.

“This idea of lost notes is a bugbear; it is something that has been a humbug to the people of the QEH, not only patients but staff,” he said, adding that the new health information system would create “a digital health record for every citizen” so that “doctors and other persons within the health care system will have access”, minimising such issues that delay treatment.

The digitisation of health records had already begun and that “in the coming weeks you will hear some more as we make announcements relative to the launching of the health information system”, he added.

Ishmael also detailed government’s broader investment in health care as it confronts rising rates of non-communicable diseases. “Eight out of ten of our adult deaths in this country are as a result of non-communicable diseases,” he said.

He argued that the nearly $400m earmarked for the QEH expansion would “allow us to build out two buildings, two structures that will house many services that would improve health care in our country”, including a new outpatient clinic, a birth unit, an expanded laboratory, an oncology centre and administrative offices.

The upgrade would “expand the existing QEH capacity by 40 per cent” and restore a national burns unit after many years. “We are a forward-thinking administration,” he said.

He reminded Parliament that the government had already secured a $185m Saudi Development Fund facility to renovate seven polyclinics and build two new ones, and invested $10m in a new linear accelerator for cancer treatment.

Some 250 posts were being added across the QEH over three years at an annual cost of $17m, bringing total recent investments to more than $200m even before the planned expansion. “No one can say that this administration is not taking health care seriously,” he said.

Ishmael outlined ongoing upgrades to information systems, including a new internal intranet and a human resources information system. He also highlighted the recent expansion of the Accident and Emergency Department, saying government had invested in “a new CT and a new X-ray machine” and increased staffing levels.

He added that a full review of A&E workflows had been completed to reduce waiting times and improve patient movement through triage, diagnosis and discharge. (SZB)