The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is reminding Barbadians of its medication delivery service programme, which is a convenient alternative to waiting at the hospital dispensary for lengthy periods of time.
Pharmacist at the hospital, Trudy Giffith told Barbados TODAY that the service was introduced to reduce high congestion levels at the outpatient clinic on a daily basis.
“We normally see 500 to 600 persons a day coming to get their prescriptions filled or to get their medications repeated at the pharmacy. So what we have done in response to the COVID-19 pandemic initially, was to offer a medication delivery service. So you can either call our delivery hotline at 536-4804 or you can visit the hospital’s website at www.qehconnect.com and order your medication. Once you place the order within three to five business days, maximally, we’ll be able to get your medications delivered to your preferred delivery address,” she said.
Noting that the programme was in place since April 2020, Griffith encouraged people to use the service, especially the elderly or those with disabilities.
“We are trying to get as many people converted from coming to the hospital face-to-face to get their medications and actually have them delivered. We have two delivery providers and they offer their services on weekdays Monday through Friday during normal business hours. So it’s very convenient for persons who cannot access public transportation, those who have difficulties coming here or if you are trying to help your elderly relatives,” she added.
The pharmacist said a $10 delivery fee was charged islandwide.
She was speaking to a Barbados TODAY team during the launch of the QEH’s Education Outreach Booth.
Communications specialist Shane Sealy explained that the hospital hosted an end of the month flea market at its River Road, St Michael, car park and officials thought it was a good idea to have medical personnel engage the public during this event to explain the variety of services the hospital offered.
“This has been going on really since 2018, but it restarted in February this year. This time around the administration and management at the QEH decided to partner with our friends at the flea market to host what we are calling our QEH outreach booth. So it’s the place where you can come and get a lot of information on some of the services that we offer here at the QEH,” he said.
Sealy added that health checks were also done at the booth.
“A number of people came through, they got their blood pressure checked, they got their sugar levels checked and it was a chance to give our friends and our family, really the public, the opportunity to get information from the doctors and nurses here. People want to know what’s going on with their health and that should be a priority.
“So we thought it was a chance [to explain] certain things and the operations of some of our services.We thought it was a chance to bridge the gap and give them the information, empower them so that they can make better decisions when coming into the Accident and Emergency Department, when coming into our outpatient clinics and just when coming to be served here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital [in general],” he said.
(SZB)
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