Most QEH emergency patients over 65 — A&E chief

Patients over 65 account for 65 per cent of those attending the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department, where doctors are seeing more strokes and complications from chronic diseases, A&E head Dr Anne-Marie Cruickshank has said.

Trauma, motor vehicle accidents and assaults make up the rest of the emergency calls, she told reporters.

She said: “Lately I’ve been seeing an increase in the number of strokes presenting to the A&E, as I would say 65 per cent of our patients are more than 65 years old. The elderly who are living longer in Barbados are now coming with the complications of age and NCDs.”