West Rand EMS severely understaffed – oversight committee
West Rand’s emergency medical services (EMS) under pressure: One responder for every 900 residents.
The Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Standing Committee on Scrutiny of Subordinate Legislation has raised serious concerns about EMS on the West Rand, revealing that there is currently only one EMS worker available for every 900 residents.
The alarming shortage was highlighted during a recent post-legislative oversight visit at Westonaria EMS to assess healthcare service delivery and resource allocation in the region.
• Also read: New EMS station to boost response times in the Drift
This follows the approval of the Gauteng Department of Health’s amended regulations on the revision of the Uniform Patient Fee Schedule (UPFS) related to ambulances.
In a statement issued recently, the GPL’s communication unit on behalf of the chairperson of the committee, Matshidiso Mfikoe, stated, “The Committee’s approval aligns with Section 4(9)(b) of the Gauteng Scrutiny of Subordinate Legislation Act 5 of 2008 (as amended). The revised UPFS introduces an annual fee increment of 4.3%, ensuring sustainability while safeguarding access to healthcare for indigent patients, as enshrined in the Constitution.”
They added the visit aimed to asses the implementation of the UPFS and also engage with stakeholders.
Public relations officer for the GPL, Tshadi Mashifane, explained during the oversight visit that they established the West Rand has a population of about one million people and 528 EMS personnel. This means there is only one EMS person for every 900 people.
“These numbers mean that the department does not meet the requirements according to the ambulance requirements per person, per population.
This crisis has meant that the unit has had to put in more work during the day shift. They ensure that all interns work during the day to assist with the high volumes,” said Mashifane.
She added 80 vehicles to work during the day when there is a bigger need for ambulances. She noted they also transport people directly to the regional hospital as opposed to transporting people to the district hospital first, before transporting them to the regional hospital. This limits the travel time and also ensures patients receive the necessary help in time.
She noted that each base in the West Rand has 14 routes within the region, which they use to transport patients.
Mashifane mentioned, “One of the greatest concerns is that there is not enough done to communicate with the local people regarding the changes to fees payable for ambulances, each year. The greatest comfort, however, is that all patients are always afforded the best treatment accordingly and equally, irrespective of whether the patient is P1 [seriously injured patient] or P3 [interfacility patient] level patient.”
She continued that they also have challenges with the payment of ambulance services that need to be collected as the wrong details are being provided, including wrong addresses and contact details, some of which don’t exist
Mashifane addressed the issues they are experiencing:
• Turnaround time on repaired vehicles
“Sometimes the response is good and sometimes it is not. The vehicle can go for a month or two, depending on what is needed for that vehicle. Parts might be an issue and we have to wait long periods to receive the parts from the dealer.
We don’t have fleet management in the West Rand at the moment and vehicles that are taken in for repairs are checked every Monday, as an internal systemic task to put pressure on the speedy return of the much-needed vehicles.”
Mashifane added that the Westonaria base has 181 ambulances in total, with 22 ICU-stationed in various bases and 159 normal ambulances.
• Communication on the fees
“The patient will be provided with a form of how much the payment is and be required to make the payment, which will be categorised according to levels and classification of P1, P2 and P3. This will then be provided to our Midrand offices, as they collect the billing (the process of debt collection is centralised for each province). The District does not receive any feedback in terms of the debt collections.”
