Archive for February 7th, 2008
David Estwick looking good and sounding good at QEH
It must be said that the visit of new Minister of Health David Estwick to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital looks and sounds very impressive so far. Although ACTION speaks louder than WORDS, De Standpipe Crew senses that the new minister is very serious and genuinely sincere about improving conditions at the hospital. Well, he now has the “POWA” to do what needs to be done, and we wish him every success in achieving it.
De Standpipe Crew
http://www.nationnews.com/story/349020250403957.php
QEH HOPE
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by TRACY MOORE
THE STORIES have been told before, but yesterday when Minister of Health Dr David Estwick took a tour of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), he got a first-hand look at the problems that plague the medical institution.
When he walked through the front door at about 10:30 a.m., staff met him with hugs, best wishes and a gift basket.
Many of the hugs came as workers aired grievances and frustrations as Estwick was shown some of the more problematic areas of the hospital.
According to staff from the various departments he visited while on the extensive tour, some departments were still suffering from a lack of human resources, crumbling infrastructure, and malfunctioning equipment.
Kitchen staffers were the first to apprise the minister of their problems, noting inadequate table tops, not enough supplies, much needed machinery like a grinder and a steamer, broken windows allowing birds to enter the food area, and leaking pipes causing kitchen staff to work standing in water.
There were even more complaints from staff working the laundry facility. Staff member Ernestine Johnson said this was the time to air their grievances because everybody knew before but nothing happened.
“This roller [laundry equipment] is sending back the heat and makes a lot of us sick. Here needs a total upgrade because we don’t have anything proper in here,” she said to Estwick.
The eye-opener, however, was the mechanics’ workshop which was cramped with old equipment, had broken windows, flooring and roofing, while the carpenters’ workshop was said to flood when it rains.
At the end of the tour, the minister said: “I think we have had a quite extensive tour of the QEH, looking at some glitches, operations and many of the departments that are critical to the delivery of its services to the public.
“But one of the things I can say is that many of the problems have pending solutions. There are works in terms of the ongoing developmental plans for the hospital which have been conceived and are actually entering the stage of design solutions to the various problems.”
He added that some of the longer-term problems like staffing and various organisational/departmental problems had already been looked at by chief executive officer Winston Collymore and his staff.
However, Estwick asked the public to give the hospital some time as “some of the issues are complex, while some of them will take a rebuilding [and] re-equipping to solve.
“But I feel confident that the hospital will be improved in a very short time with respect to some of its elements.
“The will is there to execute it . . . [which] would mean that after we identify the problems and solutions for the problems, the teams have to go to work.
“That would also mean that I would have to get to work in terms of devising how best to convince my colleagues in Government that these are requirements that are a must . . . to execute solutions to the various problems,” Estwick said.
* tracymoore@nationnews.com
Add comment Thursday, 7 February 2008, 10:29 am
