An independent health watchdog will be introduced by April to ensure clinics and hospitals adhere to quality standards, Deputy Health Minister Dr Molefi Sefularo said in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The National Health Act will be amended to create the watchdog body, which will report to Parliament either directly or through the health minister.
Although there was already a standards office within the Health Department, it was felt it should not be within the department it was supposed to judge.
”We should therefore separate the authority to ensure that standards are maintained,” he said.
It would have wide-ranging powers, including the ability to shut down private or public facilities it deemed unfit.
The national standards it would uphold were still being formulated at a quality summit under way in Boksburg. These would be presented to the national health council soon. This process started in November last year.
”These core standards reflect the basic requirements expected of all managers for us to provide safe and decent care in South Africa,” Sefularo said.
The standards would place patients’ rights first, ensuring they were treated with ”respect and dignity”.
”The very first standards cover the expectation that patients are treated with respect and dignity. To those using our public services, the attitude of our staff, the environment within which they are treated and the length of time they have to wait are at the top of the list of their ‘expected performance’. Unfortunately these are often aspects where our performance is sadly lacking,” Sefularo said.
As part of the overall national quality programme, six priority areas were identified: patient safety, infection control, availability of drugs, waiting times, cleanliness and staff attitudes.
The Health Department would visit 1 000 facilities, or 25% of the entire public service network, by March to monitor progress in these areas. It hoped to reach all facilities in the country in the next four years.
”The work on intervening will begin immediately … We are looking at the 18 most distressed districts first,” Sefularo said.
”This time we will not simply be issuing a call to action … we will be ensuring that the knowledge, skills and support that our staff need to actually solve the problems and remove the obstacles … are developed and shared across the system.”
The National Treasury has given the department R60-million to set up the programme, but it may cost a lot more.
Last week, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi urged health workers to shape up, saying factors such as staff attitudes and cleanliness in a facility were a direct reflection on management.
The draft standards would be finalised at the two-day summit. The core standards to be refined and discussed included patient rights, patient safety, clinical governance and care, public health, governance and leadership, operational management, facilities and infrastructure. — Sapa