Elderly patients suffer as frail care centre struggle to make ends meet

The Tswelopele Frail Care Centre in Johannesburg is faced with relocating 66 occupants as rental arrears pile up.

The centre is now scrambling for funds to stave off the eviction of the people it accommodates.

Hennie Els, chief executive of the Directorate Enforcing Older Persons, said many nursing homes and caring facilities suffer financially.

“This is due to businesses and general funders having withdrawn funding because of the economy and Covid-19,” he said.

Els said political parties didn’t consider the economy’s effect on the unemployment rate when the facility closed down.

Les Sanabria, Gauteng Social Services Welfare Development Forum chair, said there was a problem with more elderly homeless and disabled people on the street, which, in turn, created more unemployment.

“If money had not been returned to Treasury and used to help our sector, the department of social development would be actively creating jobs, instead of increasing the unemployment rate,” he adds.

Sanabria said South Africa was becoming an uncaring society.

“We are neglecting the right of the frail and needy to a life of dignity and driving more people into poverty”.

Department for social development spokesperson Feziwe Ndwayana denied claims residents were being evicted immediately.

Ndwayana said the department had consulted with the board and staff members at Tswelopele and ensured there were alternative facilities to relocate the occupants to.

Family members were also consulted and visited the identified facilities.

“Tswelopele was taken to court, and the department was one of the respondents, along with the City of Joburg.

“The non-payment of the rental by the centre is now a legal issue and the matter was heard in the High Court in Johannesburg,” she said.

Ndwayana said the matter was removed from the court roll on condition the department would implement an action plan to relocate all the beneficiaries to alternative facilities.

“The department can confirm it secured alternative placements for all beneficiaries.

“The health department ensured all health aspects were in place before and during the transfer of beneficiaries to alternative placement are met,” she said.

Bronwynn Engelbrecht, Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng spokesperson for social development, said the Tswelopele Frail Care Centre crisis with residents having no idea where or when they would be moved, painted a picture of the state of the department.

Engelbrecht said it was clear the department of social development had not properly planned for the closure of Tswelopele and the movement of the residents at the end of March.

“This is a shocking picture of a department that has been entrusted to care for our weak and vulnerable,” Engelbrecht said. The implications of closing down such a centre “were huge”.

“All contracts were cancelled by the management team, such as for food, cleaning materials, electricity and daily disposables, and available staff will have to be urgently sourced for uncertain periods,” she said.

“This appears to be a nightmare in the making.

“We cannot allow another Life Esidimeni crisis,” Engelbrecht said.

According to DA shadow health MEC Jack Bloom, another constant problem elderly persons faced was battling to receive medicine, “as well as the transport to take them to hospitals”.

“Too little consideration is given to elderly people needing chronic care at our hospitals.

“They wait in long queues, often for most of the day,” Bloom said.

Much more should be done to deliver medicines directly to the elderly or to a convenient nearby venue.

“Many elderly people can wait years for a hip replacement or cataract surgery to restore their sight,” he said.

Tragedy in 2016

The Life Esidimeni tragedy involved the deaths of 144 people at psychiatric facilities in Gauteng from causes including starvation and neglect.

Life Esidimeni is the private healthcare provider from which some 1 500 state patients were removed in the first half of 2016.

They were relocated to cheaper care centres, many of which were later found to be grossly under-resourced.

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