MBOMBELA – The motto of Lowveld Hospital is “hospital with heart”. By applying this business principle, the hospital was rated as the best private hospital in the country.
The hospital, a true Lowveld success story, received top honours during a prestigious gala function hosted by Discovery Health Care on Tuesday night in Johannesburg. With a remarkable rating of 89 per cent for 2014 – it was not only positioned first place in the country, it was also the only hospital in the province to be positioned in the top 20.
With more than three-million members, Discovery Health – which among others, administrates the 2,6-million-member strong Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) – processes 65 000 hospital admissions a month. A week after a member is admitted, they are sent 25 questions regarding their hospital stay. These questions pertain to care received from nurses and doctors as well as the hospital’s conditions.
The survey is based on the US government’s Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS).
“Based on HCAHPS, there is a substantial data set to show that patient perceptions of care are a good proxy for the quality of care delivered in hospitals,” said deputy CEO of Discovery Health, Dr Ryan Noach, at the event.
Discovery also launched a website on its members’ porthole, where each hospital’s score was published.
Chairman of Lowveld Hospital, Dr Attie van Wyk and CEO Mr Armand van der Merwe, were there to receive the accolade on behalf of the hospital.
Lowveld Hospital started in 2001 as a 13-bed day hospital, occupying only 400 square metres. Under
the leadership of matron, Ms Louise Fouche and her team of dedicated nursing staff, the hospital quickly became the provider of choice for same-day surgery services.
By 2009 the hospital had outgrown the space it was in and an application to expand into an overnight hospital was approved. In 2012 a brand-new Lowveld Hospital was opened.
Van Wyk commended the staff and surgeons for this achievement. “We are an independent hospital, and achieving this shows the passion and commitment of each and everyone of our staff members and surgeons.
There is sometimes a belief among patients in the Lowveld that the service of hospitals in Gauteng is superior. We hope that this achievement will contribute to eradicate this perception, and show that world-class surgery can be received right here on your doorstep.”
Asking about their recipe for success, Van der Merwe said, “A patient visiting a hospital is anxious and feels disempowered.
“We have absolute fantastic staff members, who understand that by treating every patient with respect, compassion and dignity, we empower the patient. Traditionally hospitals are good at caring for people.
“We changed the culture here at Lowveld Hospital to one where our staff members are now also good at caring about people,” he explained.
“We see our patients and their family as valued guests visiting us. We changed our culture by making everyone at the hospital, from the parking attendant to the cleaner, responsible for patient care. We also looked at small things that were a nuisance to our patients.
“We now provide free Wi-Fi to all our visitors, as well as free newspapers and free television handsets. Waiting times were identified as a major irritant for our patients and we have implemented several simple projects to address it. We now have waiting people knitting, doing Sudoku and quizzes to help with passing the time.”
According to Van der Merwe, another contributing factor to the good patient feedback received, is that the hospital is obsessive about measuring quality. “We have several quality-improvement systems in place, and we are able to react very quickly to anything that is below our quality standards.
“We contacted more than 4 000 patients personally per phone the past year. More than 15 000 questions were asked about our care, and we vigorously investigated all negative responses.
“Taking into consideration that our staff interacts more than two million times a year on a personal level with our patients, the challenge of providing consistent quality care remains enormous.”
Although Van der Merwe also praised his personnel, he cautioned, “Hospitals from all over South Africa have taken notice of the award and our patients’ positive feedback. We can be assured that the competition for a top-20 place is going to be much fiercer in future.
“I have already requested that our management team start looking at innovative ways to further improve our service.”
In the meantime, Ms Lizette van der Merwe posted on Facebook, “Thank you very much to the personnel at Lowveld Hospital for an exceptionally positive experience last night.
“The day ward went to extra trouble to speed up Lily’s ear operation which took place after hours and to make it as effortless as possible. We were greeted and treated with the utmost friendliness. She was moved to the overnight ward after her operation where again we received exceptional service. Ten out of 10.”
Lily was also the winner of the Lowveld Hospital Bravery Award, proving that patients really are guests at Lowveld Hospital.
The top-20 hospitals and their scores
1. Lowveld Hospital – 89
2. Mediclinic Howick – 88,9
3. Hillcrest Private Hospital – 86,8
4. Zuid Afrikaans Hospital – 86,7
5. Mediclinic Hoogland – 83,1
6. Kuilsriver Private Hospital – 83
7. Mediclinic Milnerton – 82,9
8. Melowmed Belville – 82,7
9. Mediclinic Victoria – 82,3
10. Wilmed Park Private Hospital – 82,3
11. Mediclinic Hermanus – 82,2
12. Mediclinic Panorama – 82
13. N1 City Hospital – 81,9
14. Mediclinic Louis Leipoldt – 81,7
15. Life Rosepark Hospital – 81,5
16. Midvaal Private Hospital – 81,5
17. Mediclinic Stellenbosch – 80,5
18. Mediclinic Cape Gate – 80,2
19. Ethekwini Hospital & Heart Centre – 79,7
20. Life Mount Edgecombe Hospital – 75,3.
