Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital has expanded its emergency resuscitation capacity from six beds to 13 as part of an emergency department upgrade that became fully operational on September 21.
Hospital CEO Dr Arthur Manning said the previous department had struggled to accommodate the volume of patients requiring emergency care, noting that around 2 000 patients are treated every month. “The old unit was too cramped and when the beds were occupied other patients had to wait on benches,” Manning said.

The emergency department treats a wide range of conditions, including infections, acute diarrhoea, fractures, burns, and other injuries. For patients whose conditions are more serious, the additional beds are intended to allow emergency doctors to act immediately rather than waiting for space to become available. “The emergency doctors can place critical patients into beds and attend to them immediately,” said Manning, “and also keep them longer to observe them because there are enough beds available.”

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The department can now accommodate more patients on beds at the same time, with monitoring equipment available to keep track of their condition while they receive treatment. However, increasing the number of beds was only one part of changing how emergency patients are managed.

The new department has been designed so that registration and clinical triage take place at the entrance. Triage allows healthcare workers to assess patients according to the urgency of their condition and determine the appropriate level of care. This means patients can begin the assessment process as soon as they arrive, rather than moving through several areas before being assessed.

Patients arriving by ambulance also have a separate access area, allowing those requiring critical care to be taken directly into the emergency treatment area.

For staff, the additional space means they can work around patients rather than having to work around a shortage of space.

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Manning said staff have reported less overcrowding and more time to see patients since the department became operational. “They can consult with more privacy and also have all the necessary equipment immediately available because equipment can now stand next to each bed,” he said.

The new department also includes areas for staff to rest and for clinical training, facilities that were not available in the old unit.

The hospital is now monitoring whether the changes are delivering the intended improvements. Staff and patient surveys will be conducted over time to measure their experience of care.

For a hospital handling thousands of emergency cases each month, the aim is ultimately straightforward: to ensure that when a mother or child arrives needing urgent attention, the department has the space, equipment and systems to respond without an avoidable wait for a bed.

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