QEH expansion targets chronic lab, bed shortages

A new lab, a dedicated burn unit, more beds and additional cancer treatment resources have been highlighted as essential to making the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) more modern and responsive once the 42-month expansion project is completed.

Senior Minister responsible for Social and Environmental Policy Senator Dr Jerome Walcott shared this update during a consultation focused on the QEH/Enmore project, which is expected to take place over the next three to four years.

The project will receive US$175 million in development bank financing for a broad healthcare transformation.

Dr Walcott spoke about the challenges the hospital faces in serving Barbadians, including inadequate laboratory facilities, bed shortages, limited cancer treatment, overcrowding and a need for more clinical space.

He particularly underscored the need for a dedicated burn unit, which the hospital previously had.

The senior minister noted that in North America and Europe, burn units are used for intensive care patients.

Dr Walcott recalled instances where burn victims had to be sent overseas for treatment due to the lack of facilities locally.

“The last four serious burn patients that we had in Barbados, they were all recommended to be airlifted out to other countries, I believe to Panama; none of them survived,” he said.

Dr Walcott believes a modern healthcare facility needs a burns unit.

“When I was a doctor years ago at the hospital, there was a burns unit, and I believe as we go forward in the 21st century to speak of having a tertiary hospital and not having a burn unit, you’re making fun,” he said.

The planned redevelopment at Enmore is described as an investment to make Barbados’ health system more resilient.

The expansion will comprise two tower blocks: one will house the Outpatient Department and laboratory services, and the other will focus on oncology and administrative offices.

Dr Walcott talked about longstanding congestion and lack of space in the laboratory. More pressing, he said, is a mould infestation that has plagued the laboratory since before COVID-19, and staff have often complained about the conditions.

“The Engineering Department of the QEH has tried its best as it relates to renovations, reconfigurations, refurbishment, and… having industrial cleaning done repeatedly, but the issues persist.”

A 2020 assessment recommended relocating the laboratory or moving departments to create additional space. Dr Walcott said a decision has now been made to build a new lab.

“Recommendations were also made that we should perhaps look to move some of the departments of the QEH and so be able to expand the lab where you probably needed to build a new lab, and I think that is a decision that we have reached at this point in time,” he said.

To provide more space for in-hospital patient care, four new wards will be added.

“We will have separate floors for those four new inpatient wards, in addition, 96 beds and, of course, an outpatient facility covering ENT, neurology, paediatrics, and providing for the EEG and EMG examinations.”

The senior minister also spoke to the need for more comprehensive cancer treatment in Barbados.

“We certainly need a PET [Positron Emission Tomography] scanner, we need a new Gamma CT scan, a new brachytherapy facility, and of course it is time that we got into the real world with cyclotrons for the production of our own radiopharmaceuticals either as markers or for specific treatment.”

Chemotherapy capacity is also expected to increase so that 10 to 12 patients can be treated at once.

The consultation is part of ongoing engagement on the QEH/Enmore project as government prepares for the planned expansion and redevelopment of the hospital.

Walcott said the investment is also intended to help Barbados regain its position as an Eastern Caribbean referral centre for complex medical cases.

(LG)