The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) has a Christmas wish they hope Government will grant.
During the hospital’s Christmas church service yesterday, QEH chief executive officer Dr Dexter James called on Government to once again look at the issue of health care financing.
James said the hospital continued to encounter struggles such as mitigating drug stock outs, plant maintenance and responding to growing patient needs. Facing this and additional challenges, he called on Government to help ease the burden on the hospital and its board.
Weather storms
“In spite of these challenges, we have managed to weather turbulent storms and keep our doors open for business as a growing concern,” James said.
“Prioritisation of services’ delivery and prudence in spending continues to be key imperatives to manage the many competing interests for available cash flows.
“It is for this reason of sustainability that we again implore policy makers to give urgent attention to reviewing a new model of healthcare financing,” he added.
Last year, Government embarked on a number of town hall meetings on the future of healthcare financing where it was revealed Government was spending $732 million.
A number of ideas were put forward at the time including a “fat tax”, medical tourism and privatising the QEH.
Sustain quality
James said the QEH had been able to sustain a high level of quality and estimated the level of service to be worth approximately $190 million.
He juxtaposed this to the hospital’s fixed annual budget of $145 million, which was compounded by rising healthcare costs.
In the face of those financial hurdles, James said the QEH would undertake several initiatives to improve its services in 2018.
These include the development of its corporate business unit, the move towards a2 4-hour laboratory, and the commitment to develop the QEH as a fully digital hospital.
Additionally, he said the hospital would be seeking to improve customer value by reducing waiting times. (AD)
