CMH new system The death rate at Frere drops a perk for patients

A PAPERLESS referral system is what Cecilia Makiwane Hospital is trying to achieve with its new booking system.

Last year, CMH installed Delta 9 software, which captures a patient’s medical information electronically, giving easy access to consulting doctors, as well as a paperless environment.

This week, CMH chief executive Dr Mthandeki Xhamlashe said they had altered the way they used Delta 9 in order to improve their patients’ experience. “This system is to improve access to our services. It is to monitor referrals and improve the quality of care,” he said.

Xhamlashe said Nontyatyambo Clinic in NU2 and Grey Hospital in Bhisho use Delta 9 to book referral dates. Local doctors and other health institutions phone the booking officers at CMH.

The process followed once someone needs to be referred to CMH is:

● A call is made by the referring doctor to the receiving doctor, where they discuss the diagnosis of the patient and when they should have their appointment; ● A provisional appointment is made; ● Admin staff preregister the patient and check for a folder. If one exists it is pulled out; if not, it is created; ● The appointment is confirmed; ● Two to three days before the appointment a reminder SMS is sent to the patient;

● Patients from outside BCM go to their nearest health facility and use the patient transport vehicle already booked on their behalf;

● On arrival at CMH, patients taken to the clinic they need;

● The patient receives their folder and a nurse checks their vitals; and

● Finally, the patient sees the relevant doctor.

The clinics on the system so far are ear nose and throat, dermatology, gynaecology, surgery outpatients, the eye clinic and family medicine.

Before this system, patients would receive referral letters from their doctors and then have to physically present themselves at CMH to make an appointment with the specialist. Now they no longer have to do so. It is done by healthcare practitioners.

Xamlashe said they started working on it last year and were pleased with how it was working out. “It is part of our efforts to make CMH a patientfriendly hospital. We have reconfigured and redefined an existing system to make things better,” he said.

Xamlashe aims to have a booking app for GPs to use by the end of 2018. — are THE number of people dying at Frere Hospital has reduced to less than four per 100 people admitted.

Frere CEO Dr Rolene Wagner said that, together with her team, she had focused on improving the quality of care at the hospital, which meant turning the spotlight on human resources, ICT, equipment and infrastructure.

“We wanted a clear understanding and definition of patient-centred care. We measured performance in terms of patient outcomes and experience of care. We then also assessed burden of disease and demand for services,” Wagner said.

Wagner said the government had spent R309-million upgrading Frere Hospital’s carpentry, painting and plumbing. In addition, the hospital spent R109- million on state-of-the-art medical equipment.

According to Wagner, in the 2014-15 financial year there were 2 248 patient deaths at Frere but in 201617 these were reduced to 1 997 deaths.

Deaths of neonatal patients (children in their first six weeks) had diminished by 21% compared to the previous year.

“Maternal deaths (women during birthing) have also decreased from 135 in the 2010-11 financial year. In 2016-17 there were seven,” Wagner said.

● In a 2007 investigation, the Dispatch exposed that hundreds of babies were dying at Frere each month. The Dispatch exposé revealed an acute shortage of staff and equipment and rising infant mortality rates. Internal hospital documents revealed that about 2 000 babies had been stillborn at Frere over the previous 14 years and many of the deaths were avoidable. —