20 patients per nurse on Cape Flats

Nurses working in Cape Flats clinics are having to attend to up to 20 patients a time, says a nursing organisation.

Cape Town - Nurses working in Cape Flats clinics are having to attend to up to 20 patients a time, says the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa).

Denosa’s provincial chairwoman, Barbara Ruiters, said gang violence and GF Jooste Hospital’s closure two years ago resulted in overworked, exhausted nurses.

The ongoing violence was also contributing to the exodus of skilled staff, she said. Ideally, the nurse-to-patient ratio should be one-to-one, “but we don’t have the staff”.

Last year, the provincial government promised Manenberg residents a state-of-the-art facility, saying it had no plans to upgrade the derelict hospital, which had been further destroyed by vandals.

The Western Cape provincial health department said a site for this facility had not yet been decided, but funding was available to finalise a “business case”.

Ruiters said the union had been against the complete closure of GF Jooste because it understood the importance of having a health facility specifically to serve Manenberg. “There needs to be a facility with improved services, experienced and skilled medical and nursing staff to deal with the complexity of trauma in this area. When children are shot, they have to travel out of the area to get a hospital to take care of them.”

Denosa said although it was in favour of a new facility, as promised by Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo, the decision had been taken in bad faith. “We asked why the hospital needs to be completely closed down. Many other hospitals were renovated, but were still in service to the big communities,” Ruiters said.

Health Department spokesman Mark van der Heever said all unions were “consulted and informed in advance” when GF Jooste was decommissioned. He said about 1.6 million patients, who had received emergency treatment there, were being treated at Hanover Park Day Hospital, Heideveld Day Hospital, Mitchells Plain District Hospital and Khayelitsha Hospital.

Denosa said nurses, who had relocated, were under strain and the trauma they had to treat had affected their health. The health department said it was not aware of a “nurse exodus”. It attributed staff leaving to retirement, promotions, “personal reasons” and medical boarding.

However, the mayco member for health, Siyabulela Mamkeli, said nurses working in volatile areas were being exposed to trauma. One person was killed nearly every day last year in gang-related incidents in the Western Cape. “Although the clinics are not necessarily directly affected by the violence, there have been instances where gang fights have spilled over onto clinic premises, shooting incidents have taken place nearby and staff members have been targeted by criminal elements,” Mamkeli said.

The City of Cape Town closed down the Hanover Park Clinic in November, amid an upsurge of gang violence in the area.

Mbombo said she was concerned about gang-violence on the Cape Flats.

The provincial Health Department has set aside R17m in the current financial year for security services for healthcare workers and patients. Another R185m has been committed for the coming financial year. The city has a budget of about R12m for security this financial year. At least R4.5m has been spent on security guards and alarms.

The staff employed by the Health Department increased from 11 182 in 2009 to 12 788 in January.

gadeeja.abbas@inl.co.za

Cape Argus