Extended visiting hours at the QEH

Barbadians will be able to visit their relatives in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital while they convalesce for a longer period each day as the health care institution moves to extend visiting hours from November 1.

The new visiting hours across the general wards will now be noon to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily.   However, the visiting hours for the QEH’s Intensive Care Units remains unchanged.

A statement from the hospital’s management stated that the seamless transition to hospital-wide extended visiting hours was facilitated through a pilot project which was launched on Ward C 12 during the month of August. 

It added: “The move to extend visiting hours provided visiting family members with greater opportunities in which to bond and care for their loved ones and the pilot indicates that this proved to be an essential element of the healing process.”

Family members were also able to play a vital role in the healing process of their relatives as they were able to ensure that the patient’s nutritional needs were met and assisted with feeding and bathing when necessary.

Management added that the new policy demonstrated the QEH’s commitment to “delivering a gold standard of effective, high quality, safe patient-centred care aimed at improving the experience for families, visitors and patients alike”.  (PR)