Chairperson of the Health Portfolio Committee, Ms Molebatsi Bopape, MPL;
Chairperson of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital Board, Mr Gideon Sithole; and other board members present;
CEO of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Dr Sandile Mfenyana;
Specialists and consultants present;
Ladies and Gentlemen

The Department of Internal Medicine at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital is the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, with 700 beds.

This is the busiest section of the hospital because it admits on average, about 100 patients a day, most of whom are seriously ill, suffering from the dual burdens of communicable (HIV/AIDS, TB) and non-communicable (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease) diseases.

In order to cope with this heavy load it is essential to have a fully functional admissions ward. Both human and support services, are concentrated in this facility to enable our healthcare team to care for the sick in the best possible way.

Programme Director,

Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital is an academic hospital, yet day in and day out, Level One patients present themselves at this hospital. For historical reasons patients who are supposed to be seen in clinics continue flocking to this hospital.

Most of you will be aware that are year ago we launched the department’s Turn Around Strategy in order to stabilise service delivery. At some point we owed suppliers up to R4 Billion rand. There were instances where hospital equipment would be broken and remain unrepaired.

We are steadily moving away from that era. We have come up with an Enhancement Plan which will be implemented at 20 of our hospitals. This Enhancement plan is are blue print to stabilise hospital services.

This Turn-Around Strategy will be implemented until the end of the current term of office. This means that, it must permeate every ward, and every clinical area of the hospital.

All levels of staff must understand that it is no longer business as usual. This calls for greater involvement of nurses and clinicians in operational management processes by establishing management structures at Ward level, Clinical Department level, and General Management level.

Clinical Managers must ensure that clinicians take more responsibility and accountability for clinical decisions and the effective and efficient management and availability of resources. It is important to have reliable, up to date and credible information on each of the clinical and other comparable service units in order to make informed service delivery decisions. To this end, each and every clinical area must be a Cost Centres.

We have prioritised Strengthening management and leadership through increased delegation and authority to hospital CEOs. This will be achieved by empowering CEOs through providing a contingency budget for emergency procurement and delivery of non-negotiable items on an urgent basis to ensure that there are no stock-outs of critical and essential items.

We have increased the delegations to the CEOs of all Central Hospitals to the level as allowed for items that are non-urgent. These delegations will be reviewed in line with the new post levels of CEOs.

We have also prioritised building relationships among all cadres of staff with greater involvement of nurses and clinicians in operational management processes by establishing management structures at ward level, Clinical Department level, and General Management level.

We have also allowed for 70% direct procurement and delivery of medical supplies to the Central, Tertiary, Regional and Specialised Hospitals. This will ensure more efficient supply to these hospitals and free up the Depot to deliver more effectively to District Hospitals and Primary Health Facilities.

With regard to hospital equipment, we will purchase directly from suppliers. This will ensure that we exclude middleman or agents to address immediate challenge and shortages. We will enter into term contract (three to five years) with suppliers on an “as and when” required basis, based on fixed term contract prices.

We are in the process of identifying up to ±10 industry recognised suppliers and maintain them on a database. This will require that clinicians are involved in decision making, in order to ensure accountability.

Focus will be on the department’s core business which is provision of quality health. I have already stated publicly that economic empowerment is not our core business. Therefore the resources that are at our disposal will be used to improve health care at our facilities. It is in this light that the Department of Internal Medicine in are hospital of the size of Chris Hani Baragwanath, must function. Working with our partners we must continue to prioritise efficient running of all hospital departments.

You will be aware that as a result of re-categorisation of hospitals, the levels of management were also affected. Therefore, there is an expectation that there will be a certain level of independence regarding management of central hospitals. The role of head office in support of hospitals is clearly defined in order to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.

Opening of a revamped ward 20, will go are long way towards boosting staff morale. The relatives of patients who are treated at this hospital leave this facility with are a clear impression of how their loved ones will be treated. In other words their experience is guided by the care that their relatives receive.

Therefore, the Six Core Quality Standards which are non-negotiable must define patient experience at this hospital.

These core standards are:

• values and attitudes of staff
• cleanliness of our facilities
• improved waiting times
• patient and staff safety and security
• infection prevention and control; and
• availability of medicines and supplies.

These core standards define patient experience at our hospitals. We acknowledge and appreciate the partnership that we have with Merck Foundation. This is an epitomy of social cohesion. We also appreciate the fact that in sponsoring this revamped ward, you allowed our clinicians to identify the area of need. We hope this is not the end of this partnership.