Much to be learnt from our nurses abroad
ON ACCOMPANYING the KZN Health Portfolio Committee to the UK to study the Welsh National Health Services (NHS), I remain convinced that the highlight was the last event… being the relaunch of the Association of South African Nurses in the UK (ASANUK) at the South African High Commission.
The deputy high commissioner, Golden Neswiswi, introduced our team to the executive members of ASANUK, headed by the energetic Gloria Mnqanqeni.
The co-founder, Mmaphula Small- Tladi, emotionally explained how she started a forum for South African nurses way back in the 1960s when she was exiled and worked as a nurse in the NHS.
Since then, some 3 000 South African nurses have been absorbed by the NHS.
ASANUK’s seven executive members have a vision and mission for this organisation’s 60 members.
They want to share their knowledge and skills with South African nurses, based on their 20 years or more experience in the NHS.
To them, sharing best nursing practices means being mentors with a supportive role.
This will be done by creating linkages. One which is already accomplished is the trade union Denosa.
Other possibilities are our training institutions and the public hospitals and clinics.
Operationalising this mission means sharing soft skills with local nurses on how to treat and care for patients, especially to combat both communicable and non-communicable diseases in SA.
The chairperson stated that the relaunch was necessary due to their concern with current health trends in SA, many of which can be prevented or contained with good nursing care, since nurses are the engine room of the health-care system.
She also explained that initially in the 1990s, many nurses post-democracy went to the UK and other countries for better wages and experience.
But nursing has changed both abroad and in SA.
Therefore, she lamented that Batho Pele, “putting people first”, needed to be properly communicated.
So the question of where to from here mind-maps the way forward to prioritise a key skill of the manual handling of patients.
Other issues include TB, HIV-Aids, diabetes, women’s reproductive health care and unwanted pregnancies.
What I applaud most is the volunteering spirit of these nurses, who want to share their skills with our nurses at no cost, which will be done during their annual vacation to SA.
ASANUK nurses are supported by the Royal College of Nurses representatives, who assist nurses in case of disciplinary hearings and other workplace issues.
These nurses bravely counter challenges professionally because they actively participate on a website: Freedom to speak up Guardians, who are guardians of all NHS trusts.
Various nurse inputs demonstrated that nursing for the NHS is demanding because it is patient centred and government controlled.
Rules, regulations, monographs, policies and laws cannot be flouted, as an individual is held accountable for his or her actions.
The ASANUK chairperson expressed concern over recent videos circulating on social media about adverse nursing in South African public hospitals.
I must note here myself that much has been reported by Amnesty International and other studies on abusive nurse behaviour in our government facilities.
In particular, South Africa has a high maternal mortality ratio of around 268 per 100 000 live births, thus missing the 2015 MDG3 of 38/100 000.
Currently, we need to work towards the 2030 SDG of less than 70/100 000.
Will we reach this target or miss it again? A lot depends on the quality of nursing care our mothers receive once they reach our hospitals.
Therefore, the UK-based nurses face disciplinary hearings for any negative act or omission and face the consequences.
However, international watchdogs now prefer corrective actions and re-skilling as opposed to individual punishment.
So, naming and shaming is definitely not the way to go, because nursing is a calling and human errors are inevitable, but skilling and re-skilling is the goal for quality of care, so that we can achieve better patient outcomes.
My view as part of the KZN delegation was to support ASANUK in its vision and mission to network with both private and public sector nurses.
This, I believe, can be accomplished via annual workshops of soft or interpersonal skills development, which shapes nurse behaviour and can be incorporated using the “train the trainer” methodology.
Therefore, I coined the theme “Treat me like a Nurse” because currently the Department of Health does have a programme “Look like a Hospital”, which is focused on infrastructure, but human resources within the health system needs more strengthening than brick, mortar and equipment.
I have always motioned and advocated in the legislature that we require “nurse preceptors” to supervise nurses consistently to avoid errors and promote patient safety.