Government Working To Address Nursing Shortage

There is a deficit of approximately 200 nurses in Barbados between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the primary healthcare system.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made this disclosure last Friday, during the re-opening of the St. Thomas Outpatient Clinic in Rock Hall, St. Thomas.  Stating that this figure came out of the recent Estimates, she said Government has been working “assiduously” with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to close this gap.

The St. Thomas Outpatient Clinic, which was closed after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, was renovated to the tune of $3.8 million, expanding from 2,700 to 5,500 square feet. It has an emergency area and isolation room, among other features, and will open two days a week, initially, with the expectation of eventually catering to the public five days weekly.

Ms. Mottley acknowledged that the developed world had been draining nurses from the local healthcare system for some time, and emphasised the importance of training beyond the country’s capacity and needs to address nursing shortages.

“…We have tried to be able to start the process of giving nurses a new deal in Barbados – the creation of a host of specialist nurses, and the ability to be able to find opportunities for greater professional development, the partnership with the University of the West Indies and with Chamberlain University – all of these are things intended to be able to move us to scale.

“Am I a little concerned that we’re not moving fast enough sometimes on those educational things? Yes, because I really do believe that unless there is skill, you cannot make the transformative changes that you want to make…. But equally, we went and found the funding for us to be able to do the refurbishment of seven polyclinics and to construct two new polyclinics at Eunice Gibson and at Randal Phillips,” Ms. Mottley said.

This will be made possible through a loan of approximately US $130 million.

The Prime Minister further noted that she believed the absence of careful attention to maintenance and expansion in the healthcare system had, over the decades, led to high rates of diabetes and obesity in the country. She told those in attendance that Barbadians also needed to take responsibility for their health by eating better and moving more.

Sharing her personal experience, Ms. Mottley explained that while she had a “perpetual battle with my weight”, she had taken steps to improve her health by making small changes such as leaving out processed foods. Additionally, she said she had also quit smoking for the past eight years.

“The Ministry of Education is working now with the Ministry of Health to ensure that we really get the balance correct in our meals, because eating is as much an issue of exposure and habit as it is anything else, and one of the things that we have to be able to teach our children is that you don’t need to eat sweetness every day,” she emphasised.

The Prime Minister also outlined plans for 24-hour services at other polyclinics. Those in line to join the 24-hour Winston Scott Polyclinic are the David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex, Maurice Byer Polyclinic and when it is eventually constructed, the new Randal Phillips Polyclinic.

“And I asked the senior minister to ensure that in the plans for the Randal Phillips one, that we have a small clinic that can deal also with cases that are overnight, rather than just only ambulatory cases.” 

Minister of Health and Wellness, Senator Dr. The Most Honourable Jerome Walcott, spoke to the major impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which account for 80 per cent of adult deaths in Barbados. 

He said the reopening of the St. Thomas Outpatient Clinic was part of Government’s policy to improve health education, early detection and treatment of NCDs.             

The Health Minister outlined plans to expand services in the renovated clinics, including in the areas of point-of-service blood results as well as cancer screening for breast, prostate, colon and cervical cancers. 

He said he hopes the St. Thomas Outpatient Clinic would serve as an example for future expanded facilities and encouraged residents of St. Thomas to make full use of the clinic. (PR/GIS)