North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha appointed two professors to strengthen the capacity at the Brits District Hospital. This comes after a public outcry by the community, which were sparked by a video clip posted on social media (Facebook) by a community member whose mother was admitted to the hospital on the 19th October 2020.
Sambatha said that the picture depicted in the video clips is indeed a true indication of the challenges faced by the hospital.
“Patients were not fairly treated and consequence management will be applied. I must say I find the treatment of the complainant’s mother and other persons that were lying on the floor inhumane, unprofessional unacceptable, and lacking empathy.
“For that, I must be upfront in saying that we apologise to the patients, the family, community and the rest of South Africa. A report given to me was that, the mother of the complainant was brought to the hospital on 19 October 2020 with history of an acute neurological event,” said Samabatha.
He added that there was up to 3 hours delay before she was attended to. Sambatha further said it was also revealed that the person who escorted the patient was forcefully removed from the casualty by security and denied access to the unit and the mother.
“The patient and others in the casualty unit sat on uncomfortable seats or slept on the floor for up to 16 hours. It was concluded that the care provided was sub-optimal and particularly a staff attitude towards patients and escorts was very poor. At this point, the complainant recorded the state of the casualty and posted it on social media.
“Poor clinical governance was identified as a key challenge for the hospital that has a big influence on the undesirable conditions at the hospital. In order to strengthen these areas, we have taken a decision to appoint Professor John Tumbu, Professor Benu Luke and the Clinical Manager of JST to oversee the strengthening of clinical governance prescripts and quality assurance,” he said.
Sambatha also said the department will appoint quality assurance officers and implement the Ideal Hospital Framework. He said a dysfunctional patient filling system will also be addressed through strengthening of patient management systems.
“This intervention will cover filling and archiving systems. The two, Professor Tumbu and Professor Luke have been elevated to Provincial status to support all the Districts. Their work will also cover the strengthening of the quality assurance unit and to ensure the implementation of standard clinical governance prescripts.
“There will be visible systems re-organisation in the service units to improve patient flow and records management. A decision was taken to strengthen a provincial representation in the intervention. As a result, a team led by the Administrator which comprises of labour representatives, representatives of staff members, hospital board, and district management will oversee implementation of all these resolutions,” said Sambatha.
In terms of leadership, it was revealed that there is a lack of substantive appointees in key leadership positions. However, Sambatha said the department has taken a decision to fast-track the appointment of senior managers at the hospital including the position of Clinical, Nursing, and Allied Managers as well as speeding up the disciplinary hearing of the substantive CEO.
The Guardian 
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