‘Management must go!’ – nurses demand, amid decaying conditions
No hot water, bare mattresses, nurses at Middelburg Provincial Hospital have gathered in solidarity with neglected patients.
Staff have gathered at Middelburg Provincial Hospital in solidarity with their neglected patients.
Several informants speaking from inside the hospital’s wards have confirmed the gathering, but assure that treatment to patients is not being refused.
The staff have made allegations of mismanagement and are demanding that ‘management must go’.
According to the informants, patients have no choice but to bring their own bedding or be forced to lie on bare mattresses, covered in plastic.
“We have been given disposable plastic gowns by management to cover the mattresses with, there is no water, we only have hot water occasionally and our patients are frequently forced to bathe in sparse, cold water.”
The informants also allege that some staff members have not received overtime payments, with some still waiting for overtime compensation since April.
Additionally, informants state that the nurses are understaffed, with a ratio of three nurses per 33 patients as well as accusing the Hospital CEO and Nursing Manager of having attitudes.
“The nursing staff are in a very difficult situation, because our patients hold us responsible, in some instances, nurses are assaulted by their own patients.”
Clr Elsie Vermooten previously responded to the gathering, saying that while she condemns violence and damage to infrastructure, she sympathises with the conditions in which patients are left in and nurses have to work in.
The hospital premises have been struggling with continued sewage spills, water interruptions and a lack of maintenance for several years.
Residents involved in Gholfsig’s Tidy Town Project have also attested to the overgrown premises brimming with rubbish. Visitors often use the bushes to relieve themselves, and label the growing piles of human excrement as a biological hazard.
According to informants, a meeting with management will be held later today.
• The Department of Health has been approached by the Middelburg Observer to respond to the allegations, but no reply has been received as yet.
Media spokesperson Christopher Nobela has vowed to investigate and respond accordingly.
- This article has been amended to clarify that it is not a strike but a gathering.
@middelburgobserver Nurses and cleaning staff strike at Middelburg Provincial Hospital due to decaying conditions.
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