Queen Elizabeth Hospital Faces Community Concerns Over 2025-2028 Strategy: Emergency Care, Staff Accountability, and Transparency Discussed
December 5, 2024
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital's 2025-2028 strategy faces impassioned feedback at a town hall meeting, with concerns raised about emergency care, staff accountability, and financial transparency. Issues in the A&E Department and broader capacity challenges are highlighted.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s (QEH) plans for its 2025-2028 strategy faced a wave of impassioned feedback during a fiery town hall meeting on Wednesday evening.
Patients and community members shared harrowing experiences, proposed innovative solutions, and voiced pressing concerns about emergency care, staff accountability, and financial transparency at Barbados’ only tertiary healthcare institution.
The prolonged wait times and perceived inefficiencies in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department were a recurring theme. Several attendees shared harrowing personal experiences. One participant, visibly emotional, recounted: “I, myself, am a victim. I was a victim of four days of A&E. Let me tell you something. I was traumatised. Traumatised. Up to now, I don’t even want to pass A&E.”
The bottlenecks in A&E raised broader questions about its capacity to handle critical cases.
“How is it that gunshot victims, vehicular accident victims, heart attack victims, and pregnant mothers use the same A&E Department as seen by probably the same doctors?” asked one audience member, suggesting a lack of specialised trauma care within the facility.
Although QEH leadership gave assurances that reforms were underway—including increased staffing, updated escalation plans, and expanded diagnostics—the public’s concerns highlighted lingering doubts about the hospital’s ability to address emergency care demands effectively.
Beyond A&E, complaints about accountability and the hospital’s handling of grievances were voiced repeatedly. A long-term patient shared a particularly troubling story: “I was beaten by an orderly… I even asked for counselling, and nobody has helped me to this day. I’ve made complaints, complaints after complaints, and received no answer whatsoever.”
Another criticised the hospital’s lack of transparency and follow-up on issues raised by patients.
“There is no accountability when something happens, and you complain. People can say anything to a patient… and two or three years later, it has not been addressed,” she said.
Suggestions for improvement included implementing a structured complaint system with timely resolutions and enhanced transparency.
“We need to give more details of how we respond to complaints,” said one audience member, calling for empathy in communications and accountability for staff misconduct.
Others advocated for mandatory in-service training for all employees. “From heads of department all the way down to maintenance… Without that, and then consequences, nothing will change,” a participant asserted.
But it was not all a tale of woe, as several attendees proposed solutions to address the hospital’s financial and operational challenges, with many emphasising the need for community-driven initiatives. One suggestion was an “Adopt-a-Ward” programme, where the public could contribute small amounts to fund specific ward refurbishments.
“Why can’t the QEH embark on a project of bringing the entire population on board? I am willing to put in the first dollar,” declared one audience member, drawing applause from the room. She added, “Surely there are corporate entities and philanthropists who would really jump on board.”
This idea received a favourable response from hospital officials, with the hospital’s communications specialist acknowledging its potential.
“Our director of finance will be very happy for that cash injection,” he said, pledging to explore similar initiatives in future strategy discussions.
The audience members also highlighted concerns about the financial transparency of healthcare services at QEH. One participant proposed providing patients with itemised bills, even if the charges are zero-rated.
“You use the costs, the prices you use now to build private services… and show them how much services they have consumed and how much it actually costs the taxpayers,” she suggested, arguing that this would foster a greater appreciation for the hospital’s value.
Others criticised specific charges, such as the $375 fee for accessing patient records. “That’s astronomical,” one said, while questioning how such costs are justified when digitisation could reduce expenses. Suggestions included revisiting pricing models and ensuring that digitisation benefits patients by lowering administrative fees.
The strain on QEH’s infrastructure, particularly its bed capacity, was another focal point of discussion. One participant noted: “Very often we are maxed out in terms of where we can house patients and manage them prior to their discharge.” They called for the expansion of medical and surgical facilities to alleviate pressure on the A&E Department.
Parking was also a recurring complaint, with one attendee remarking: “Only two disabled parkings in front of the entrance, and that is the hospital.” Another added, “Level the parking lot and improve visitor parking.” There were even suggestions for introducing paid parking to help fund infrastructure improvements.
The hospital’s plans to digitise patient records received mixed reactions. While some attendees expressed optimism about the modernisation effort, others cautioned against potential risks.
“There hasn’t really been a proper assessment and discussion of the potential for certain things and certain risks like increased worker burden, propagated errors, and privacy breaches,” a participant warned.
The lack of robust regulatory frameworks for data privacy was another concern. “Barbados has no formal regulatory body right now,” the audience member explained. “The Data Protection Act talks almost exclusively about data, but not about the people that data represents.”
He emphasised the importance of tailoring the digitisation process to Barbados’ unique needs. “We hear about digitisation and the wonders it will do, but we also have to be very, very mindful of the local context.”
Amidst the critiques, audience members also acknowledged the dedication and hard work of QEH staff. One long-term patient expressed gratitude for the care they received, saying: “The care was fabulous. The nurses—you hear me? Off the chain.”
Another participant emphasised the importance of the QEH as a national institution, adding: “We are blessed to have a facility like this.”