QEH orders $82m equipment as modernisation advances

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital said on Thursday it has ordered $82m in new equipment and is commissioning its first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system as part of a modernisation programme that includes digitising patient records, upgrading the mortuary and reducing outpatient waiting times.

Chief executive officer Neil Clark told journalists: “We continue to use the $130m given to us for capital equipment, and today we’ve ordered $82m of new equipment for the hospital.”

Among the major additions is the QEH’s first MRI system, which Clark said was now being commissioned. It is also moving to a new waste management system that will replace its incinerator.

“Removing the incinerator, which frustrated the local people so much, rightfully so, as we move to a green and clean system,” he said.

The engineering team is also continuing work on the roof of the Lions Eye Care Centre, which Clark described as a major and complex repair.

“If you just look at the roof from down below, it looks like there’s a factory on top of the roof,” he said. “Trying to waterproof it is an extensive project.”

Alongside the equipment programme, the hospital is introducing its health information system and digitising its patient records.

Director of Support Services Gerry Warner said about 170 000 legacy records were being converted.

“We have already completed 133 000 with our partner who is doing the process in a classified and secure manner for us,” he said.

The digitised records were being uploaded to the Universal Health Information System and would eventually be available to doctors as readable PDF files, he added.

“What that therefore means, is that the legacy records of 170 000 patients will be available as a readable PDF file so that the doctor can check on those records when we fully launch our health information system.”

The digitisation process is expected to be completed “by February next year at the latest”, while the wider health information system is being launched in stages.

Clark said the move to digital systems also extended to the hospital’s finance and human resources departments.

“Finance and HR are also going digital. At the moment I’ve got 3 000 staff on manual records, so if I wanted to know who’s been trained in what or who’s completed appraisals, it’s a slow, painful process.”

Automating those functions would improve the support services provided to the hospital’s medical teams, he added.

The hospital is also working to reduce outpatient waiting times by creating a centralised waiting list to track patients awaiting treatment.

“Currently it’s done manually, and that’s time-consuming. Paper notes may well go missing,” Clark said. “So moving forward as we digitise the outpatient process, we’ll see some improvements there.”

The hospital was also working with the Ministry of Health to move some outpatient dispensing from the QEH to polyclinics and other community locations, reducing the need for patients to return to the hospital for follow-up prescriptions.

The modernisation programme also includes upgrading the hospital’s mortuary, which Warner said would receive a new negative-pressure air-conditioning system and additional fridges, increasing its capacity to 38 bodies.

The autopsy area will also be upgraded with improved drainage, new tiling, and communication and digital technology to assist pathologists during examinations.

The new mortuary fridges will be part of the hospital’s equipment replacement programme and will use greener, ozone-friendly refrigerants.

The mortuary has already been emptied ahead of the refurbishment, with autopsies temporarily moved to Tudor’s Funeral Home and body storage to Lyndhurst Funeral Home.

Recruitment is also continuing, with Clark saying 250 of the 295 additional posts the hospital was granted last year have already been filled.

“We continue to recruit into these hard-to-fill posts, not just hard to fill for Barbados, but hard to fill internationally,” he said.

Clark said the changes are part of the QEH’s 2025 to 2028 strategy, aimed at improving patient care and modernising services.

The changes are happening alongside the relocation of about 23 departments as the hospital prepares for major redevelopment and refurbishment.

This includes the redevelopment of the Enmore complex, which is expected to provide additional inpatient space, a new oncology centre, modern diagnostic and laboratory facilities, more outpatient clinic space and additional office space.

(LG)