Victory for PE’s frail care patients
Court orders Bhisho to halt planned move from two centres
PATIENTS at the only two statefunded frail care centres in Port Elizabeth – on the verge of closure – were thrown an 11th-hour lifeline by the Port Elizabeth High Court yesterday when the Department of Social Development was compelled to keep them open.
The families of patients housed at the Lorraine and Algoa frail care facilities – assisted by Legal Aid SA – had, as a last resort, approached the court for help after the department failed to provide them with any information on how and when their relatives would be moved from the facilities.
The court also ordered unprecedented protection of all the patients in an effort to avoid what happened in Gauteng, where the death toll of psychiatric patients has now risen to 39 following mass transfers from Life Healthcare centres to homes run by nongovernment organisations earlier this year.
Judge Phakamisa Tshiki ordered the department to extend its contract with East Cape Frail Care, part of the Life Healthcare group, until a new service provider was appointed to render a similar service and a proper handover of patients had been carried out.
The extension will be valid until at least February 23, when the parties are due back in court.
Human rights advocate Sarah Sephton was also appointed as curator to the 239 patients at the centres and the department will not be able to move any patients without her consent.
According to the court order, Sephton has the power to stop any patient from being transferred and must give consent in writing for any patient transfer.
As soon as a new provider is appointed, the department will have to give the court a report setting out how and when the service provider will take over the centres and how the handover of patients will take place.
The department did not renew its contract with East Cape Frail Care – which expires on December 31 – to run the centres.
The patients and their families were only told at the end of last month that the centres would be closing down and, so far, no new service provider has been appointed.
“It is important for us that a curator be appointed for these patients,” Advocate Lilla Crouse SC, from Legal Aid SA, said.
“They are all frail care patients. None of them can take an informed decision,” Crouse said.
“Most can’t speak. Someone needs to make sure that the right decisions are taken.
“We are doing this to proactively avoid a situation like what happened in Gauteng.”
The Gauteng deaths scandal has been widely condemned, including by the United Nations Council for Human Rights.
Advocate Timothy Bruinders SC, acting for the department, said he had been told by officials that they were on the verge of appointing new service providers.
“It is possible that some of these patients will be moved,” he said.
The patients’ families were supported at court by members of the Treatment Action Campaign who came to protest against the closure of the centres.
Ntombomzi Qutywa, 40, whose husband, Mpumelelo, has been in a coma for five years at Algoa Frail Care following a vicious assault, was among those present in court. “I am very relieved. “I am feeling much better. I am so grateful,” she said.
The court order was also welcomed by the Eastern Cape Health Crisis Action Coalition Group.
The Human Rights Commission has also given Social Development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi until tomorrow to respond to allegations that the closure of the centres would constitute major human rights violations.
Gerhard Lueck, from the Frail Care Crisis Collective – the group of families that brought the legal action against the department – said it was a great victory.
“The family members are pleased with the outcome, with an extension being achieved and a curator appointed to oversee future processes,” he said.
“This is the right step and it is regrettable we had to resort to the judiciary to ensure that the constitutional rights of the individuals resident at the two centres are upheld.
“We hope we, as families, can now work in partnership with all the stakeholders, in particular the departments of social development and health, to achieve the best possible service for individuals at the centres.
“We urge the departments not to work in compartments, but to take responsibility in an inclusive and holistic manner.”
Robin Ownhouse, whose sister is in Lorraine Frail Care, said he was very happy about the outcome.
“There is still much work to be done,” he said.
The DA’s Bobby Stevenson – who first raised the anticipated closure of the frail care centres in the provincial legislature – said he was overjoyed.
“I rejoice that the David of the frail care residents has slain the giant of the Department of Social Development,” he said.
“This is a victory for the most disadvantaged members of our society and humanity as a whole.
“It is also a scandalous indictment, not only of the department, but also of the provincial government, that the courts had to order them to make the right moral choice.
“The families of the residents have been subjected to unnecessary trauma and pain.”
Department spokesman Mzukisi Solani and Sihlwayi did not respond to a request for comment.
‘ The families have been subjected to unnecessary trauma and pain