Improved services for Bara Hospital

Monday, January 23, 2017

Pretoria – The Gauteng Health Department says it has plans in place to minimise adverse events at South Africa’s largest health facility, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH).

The department on Monday said the hospital continues to heal and bring hope to many people with various illnesses and injuries, despite high patient volumes. 

The Soweto based hospital manages about 592 000 outpatients yearly, 51 000 normal hours casualties and 21 500 after hours casualties. Moreover, the facility performs around 8 000 caesarean section deliveries in addition to 19 000 live births annually.

“The hospital personnel takes great care in managing each patient but unfortunately, serious adverse events (SAEs) do happen from time to time,” said the department.

In 2015, the hospital reported 62 SAEs cases of the 586 cases that were recorded for all hospitals and clinics in the province. 

SAEs involve, amongst others, allegations of negligence, human error, abscondment of patients and system challenges.

Measures in place to address SAEs

Amongst the plans put in place to address these challenges, the department said all units are expected to conduct continuous risk assessments and clinical audits at least once a month; as well as monitoring and evaluation of clinical practice through assessments using the National Core Standards.

CHBAH will also conduct ongoing reviews of the midwifery practice standards, and ensure that management in each facility places emphasis on consequence management upon completion of investigations.

Gauteng is currently piloting the implementation of Continuous Professional Development to enhance the clinical skills and competence of nurses.

The hospital has about 2 888 beds and is a referral hospital for various facilities in its cluster which include Thelle Mogoerane, Kopanong, Bertha Gxowa, Bheki Mlangeni and Leratong Hospital.

All complicated illnesses or injuries in the cluster are referred to CHBAH for further management.

The other three academic hospitals that had SAEs in 2015 are Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital with 10 cases, DR George Mukhari Academic Hospital with nine cases, and Steve Biko Academic Hospital with three cases.

“In each SAE case, progressive discipline such as verbal or written warning, suspension with or without pay and dismissal is instituted. 

“In other instances, cases are referred to statutory bodies such as the South African Nursing Council and Health Professions Council of South Africa.

“We wish to assure the public that SAEs do not necessarily make a hospital either the safest or the most dangerous, and people should continue to visit public health facilities and expect quality service,” said the department. - SAnews.gov.za