Amanda de Lange writes:

What was supposed to be a consoling visit with our sick 76-year-old mother on Sunday 12 February 2017 turned out to be a nightmare experience at the Potchefstroom Hospital. With myself, my husband, sister-in-law and her husband from out of town arriving early Sunday morning to make the most of our visit, we were stopped at the gates of the hospital and told there are no visiting hours in the morning.
We tried to reason with the security, explaining that we are from Johannesburg and Pretoria and did not know Potchefstroom hospital had no visiting hours in the morning. We asked permission to see ‘Ouma’ as we could not stay until late afternoon before we head back home.
The security refused and was unwilling to get special permission from the staff on duty.

I got annoyed with their attitude and walked past them to the hospital to find my mother-in-law. I literally had to ‘break into’ the hospital to go and find my mother-in-law. When I found her she was very frail and teary. She only wanted to see her children and I tried to explain to her that we are not allowed to visit before late afternoon.

Also read: Ons moet die omstandighede by die hospitale verander

I left and requested security to find the matron on duty to request permission to see ‘Ouma’ for a while. The matron refused us access saying that my mother-in-law was not that ill and they are busy washing the hospital floors.
I could not believe my ears and after a while realised that the issue was about more than wet floors. It was only once I said we will not enter the ward and is willing to stand outside my mom’s room and talk to her through the window that the matron was suddenly willing to allow only my husband and his sister for two minutes with their mother.
Why would a hospital be guarded like a fort and visitors be expected to wait on the pavement outside the premises? They would not even allow us to wait inside the hospital in reception.
According to one of the security guards who passed us outside the hospital, he was called in to sort the ‘white woman’ out who was making trouble for the hospital staff. I was dump struck that the ‘colour card’ was used. The attitude of the security and hospital staff. We did not foresee the fact that Potchefstroom hospital would be the only hospital who does not allow visitors in the morning.

Also read: Hospitaal hou nie by tye sê vrou

The sad reality is, ouma was in fact very sick and passed away last Friday leaving us with a feeling of being cheated by people who acted out their position of power instead of an act of humility to allow the four of us to visit one last time with our mom before we had to say good bye.
I spent a lot of my early years at the Kalie de Haas hospital. My mom worked for the Superintendent, Dr Jan Nagtegaal and the Admin Manager, Fanie Coetzer. I was the first child enrolled into the pre-primary school for the staff’s children. It is so sad to see what has become of the pride of Potchefstroom, now a prison for the sick.

Potchefstroom Hospital answers

After reading your media enquiry, it is noticed that the complaint is all about service and customer care standards, which encompasses visiting hours. The North West Department of Health has the Security Policy which controls access to facilities in order to ensure staff and patient safety. The Key Ministerial Priority of staff and patient safety is non-negotiable and includes both the physical and clinical safety of patients. Physical safety ensures that these patients are protected from harm (physical abuse etc). In order to ensure the safety of patients and staff, the North West Department of Health has appointed Security Company to achieve this objective.
The services standard of customer care, which in this regard is visiting hours, is to protect patients from the following:
1.Patient confidentiality which is enshrined in the Patients Rights Charter.
2. Ensures that Infection Control Practices are well adhered to.
3. Ensures that comprehensive clinical management of the patient is not compromised, i.e Ward rounds by the team.
4.Patients must rest after medication to ensure healing.
Potchefstroom Hospital is upholding the Legal framework Regulation, Act and Policies of the National Health Act No. 61 of 2003. Potchefstroom Hospital is a safety net for patients. The Policy stipulates clearly that when the patient is critically/ terminally ill, the family is allowed to stay with the patient. That is the correct and factual information from the hospital.

Similar situations reported

The Herald is aware of at least one other case where people were barred from entering the hospital outside of visiting hours. In the other case the patient was very ill but his wife was not being communicated to about his care and had to eventually lie to gain access to her husband. According to the hospital it has dealt with the complaint.