Nurses claim ill-treatment

Frontier Hospital staff describe a work environment of intimidation, fear and low morale.

This week, 72 workers at the hospital tested positive for Covid-19, with one nurse having died last week.

Workers who have spoken to The Rep on condition of anonymity, said the hospital was not prepared to deal with Covid19 patients, which had put the lives of both staff and patients at risk.

"There is only one sanitiser per ward and this week there was a shortage of PPE,” said a nurse, who was recently placed in quarantine.

Staff said wards dedicated for Covid-19 patients had become a hotbed for viral transmissions, with disinfection not taking place and staff infections continuing to rise.

"When the nurses from “Nonesi and B-Block [wards] started testing positive, we were told to fill in though they had not been disinfected.

"I personally had to leave my ward. At some stage I was the only nurse on duty for one of the wards,” said a nurse who is now also Covid-19 positive.

The steady increase of staff in quarantine has led to shortages, with wards usually attended to by seven health care workers being reduced to one nurse or no staff at all. On my last day, I had to do everything.“

“I started by serving the patients meals in the morning. When I asked who was working night shift they said no nurse had been on night shift for two nights,” added another nurse.

Because of the staff shortage, the distraught workers claim they are forced to work even if they have been in contact with infected colleagues, and told to wait for symptoms to appear before requesting a test.

“They said some staff had been ordered back to work without being retested. We are now told we need permission from matrons to be tested and booked off,” a nurse said. We have tested privately “because they do not want more staff on quarantine.”

A nurse, who was near tears, said no support had been offered to staff who tested positive.

“You are just told you are positive and to go home.

“I have a family and had no place to self-isolate. I put them directly at risk.

“There was no plan for the people we expose to be tested, instead we have to pay for their tests.

“The medication we need runs out and it is none of their business.

“I do not want to go back there. You do not even get phone calls to ask how you are doing. We are just expected to go back to work,” said the nurse.

Exacerbating the situation, the staff said, was that psychiatric patients, who they were not trained to handle, were being kept at the hospital.

“They are kept in one of the wards dedicated to Covid-19 cases.

“They are only supposed to be there for 72 hours, but have been there for weeks.”

The Rep was in possession of pictures in which files were strewn on the hospital floor, allegedly after a disturbance by the psychiatric patients.

Democratic Nurses Organisation of SA (Denosa) regional chairperson, Andisile Pampila said they had raised the staff concerns with hospital management.

Pampila said the union would take the issues up with the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM).

“We have requested a meeting with the chief director of health at Chris Hani to discuss all the Covid19 issues across the district. We also want psychological support for staff.

“The issue of the wards is a big concern. It is nonnegotiable, they should have been closed and fumigated. That is going to happen.”

“Pampila said the hospital should have taken more responsibility tracing staff member’ s contacts because it was undermining the fight against the virus.”

At the time of going to print, there had been no response to questions sent to the department of health.

Meanwhile, SAPS members from the Mlungisi police station were moved to the army base this week after a police member at the station tested positive for Covid-19.