Healthcare facilities not compliant with standards
Poor leadership, staff shortage blamed
Compliance with the highest standards for quality healthcare at public facilities is dire and needs urgent attention, the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) has said.
CEO Simphiwe Mndaweni yesterday said that although the public healthcare sector has not collapsed, there are leadership, corporate governance, and supply chain management deficiencies as well as chronic shortage of staff.
“We cannot … pretend to be fine. There are issues that are dire that need to be attended to … we are going through a difficult period. We still have services rendered at our facilities but the biggest problem is compliance with norms and standards,” Mndaweni said.
The office has criss-crossed the country inspecting public health facilities, looking, among others, at patient rights and safety, clinical governance and leadership and corporate governance as well as operational management and facilities and infrastructure.
“The common denominator in the majority of facilities is issues around leadership, corporate governance, supply chain management and shortage of staff. The report, compiled by the office after unannounced inspections, show that only one hospital was found to be compliant in the Free State.
One hospital – Far East Rand Hospital – and two clinics were found to be compliant in Gauteng and one hospital was compliant in the Eastern Cape.
Only one clinic was compliant in Limpopo and most of health facilities in Mpumalanga were critically non-compliant, while one clinic was compliant in the Northern Cape and North West.
In the Western Cape, one hospital and four clinics were compliant. Four hospitals and four clinics were compliant in KwaZulu-Natal.
She said the provision of quality public healthcare services was not a one-off process but a journey and a process.