Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Aims to Improve Patient Care and Efficiency with Expanded Emergency Care System

By Ryan Gilkes

Saddled with delays in patient care amid rising demand and Barbadians leaving their elderly relatives at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the director of medical services said it is hoped that in a couple of months, a “fully expanded” emergency care system will be more efficient and responsive.

Anthony Harris also gave an assurance that the island’s premier acute care hospital is committed to providing quality care to the people. He said the challenges faced by the Accident and Emergency Department (AED) are expected to ease after its full expansion, scheduled for March.

There have been mounting criticisms and complaints about service levels at the hospital, particularly in the AED which has been saddled with patient delays.

“There is certainly a greater demand for the use of Accident and Emergency here, and emergency rooms in general worldwide, so we are not an exception in that case,” Harris told Barbados TODAY. “Added to that, we are still right now a construction zone… so we are at half the capacity we will be in two months. That is the reality, and we always have to keep [in mind] that that is what is happening as well. It is a gross inconvenience to the Barbadian public and it is also a gross inconvenience for the people trying to work there.

“We are hoping that with the fully expanded A&E, we will be able to provide some ease for patients and some ease for us, because the flow should get better and if we believe the maxim that function will follow form, we are expecting that we will see some improvement. We are not going to be naive to think that this will solve all of the problems, because all are not in the AED itself but also on the wards.”

The hospital opened in 1964 with over 460 beds and has expanded to accommodate over 600 beds. But Harris highlighted the strain on resources, with each ward currently housing between 20 and 24 beds and a significant number of elderly-for-care patients, which presents complex challenges. Currently, there are close to 50 elderly for-care patients at the hospital.

“We got some out over the last few days, but we were running 48 elderly-for-care in the hospital which is two full wards,” Harris explained.

The term “elderly-for-care” refers to patients cleared for discharge but who require 24-hour care and whose families may lack the resources or time to provide adequate care at home. Harris said while the term does not serve as a medical diagnosis, it points to the difficulties families face in caring for elderly relatives, particularly those with chronic illnesses like heart failure, diabetes, kidney failure, or end-stage cancer.