Four years ago the Owen Arthur administration decided that a new general hospital should be built to replace the decrepit and outmoded Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Four years later, the present government has now decided to reverse its initial objection to that decision and have now agreed that we do indeed need a new general hospital. After 44 tortuous months in office they have come to recognize that the present hospital is an increasing drain on the public purse while it does not meet the needs of the general public in the 21st century. Following decades of patchwork quilt maintenance, changing medical technology, improved structural standards and design and increasing congestion The QEH has proved to be unsustainable
Unfortunately, because of petty political posturing, there has been a great escalation in the project cost and much time has been lost in the planning process as well as with the work that has to be done to train a new generation of technical staff. A new hospital would also require innovative operating systems and structures of management that would maximize the efficiency of the staff at all levels.
Along with the initial planning of the building design and construction, there should be a parallel planning of the maintenance of the facility. Suitably qualified engineering staff should be employed in the earliest stages in order to familiarize themselves with the new hospital, establishing proper preventative maintenance procedures and implement them from the very beginning.
Relocation of the hospital to a higher elevation and to a more accessible site would be of long term benefit and improve the capability of the institution to respond in times of natural disasters or mass casualty events. Given the improvement in road systems and the ubiquitous availability of vehicular transportation there is now greater flexibility in choosing a convenient location for ease and speed of public access to the vast majority of the public.
The practice of medicine today is a team effort of physicians, nursing staff, record keepers, sanitation workers, information technology and communication specialists, catering facilities for patients and staff, pathology, and pharmaceutical dispensing services but to mention a few. This in depth support is critical for effective, safe and error free patient care.
A new hospital will mean developing a new way of recruiting, retaining and managing the knowledge intensive workers that will be essential to get the true benefits from the enormous capital cost of a new facility. While we focus on the design and structure of a new building and its location as well as how we plan to finance this massive project, we also need to take care of some of the essential things at the very basic level that will support the success of this venture.
For example, we need to promote the study of the physical, chemical and biological sciences in secondary schools and to create an excitement in the scientific curricula. The importance of a sound grounding in science cannot be understated for many of the essential professions in today’s economy. It goes without saying that a science background is a prerequisite for the nursing profession, yet a staggering number of youngsters who chose to apply for nursing school have to attend remedial classes in science and many who may have a natural aptitude in caring for the sick and elderly find that a lack of a sound grounding in science prevents them from maximizing their potential in the nursing profession.
The new hospital is a very necessary project and given its cost and complexity needs the very best technical planning and implementation. Equally challenging will be to get the human equation right and with our present organizational structures and planning priorities that is an impossibility.
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