Surgery backlog addressed
The Gauteng Health department is striving to reduce the surgery backlog at the Steve Biko Hospital.
The demand for surgical operations at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital is beginning to exceed the institution’s capacity and resources, Gauteng MEC for Health, Hope Papo said this week.
Currently, there are more than 2 720 patients waiting at the hospital for various surgical procedures.
The large waiting list sometimes necessitated the postponement of surgeries, Papo said, but added that measures had been put in place to deal with the increasing demand for operations at the hospital. Operations were also being referred due to factors such as the reallocation of theatres, unavailability of anaesthesiology services and adequate post-operative Intensive Care Unit beds, death of a patient or refusal by a patient to proceed with the surgery as well as patients eating before the scheduled surgery.
Papo said the shortage of theatre-qualified professional nurses and anaesthesiologists also impacted on the hospital’s capacity to conduct operations.
To date, 56 paediatric, 76 general, 72 orthopaedic, 40 gynaecology, 51 ophthalmology and 62 cardiac surgeries have been deferred by the Steve Biko Hospital, the MEC stated.
“The hospital has a total of 156 patients waiting for paediatric surgery, 283 for trauma, 156 for limb reconstruction, tumour and sepsis, 674 for arthoplasty, 329 for upper limb surgery, 33 for spine epidurals, 430 for facial surgery, 450 for ophthalmology, 150 for cardiothoracic surgery as well as 67 for ear, nose and throat surgeries,” he said.
He stressed that the department was working hard to improve the situation and has put measures in place to deal with the backlog and ensure that patients receive the necessary treatment.
These include close monitoring of theatre time and hospital bed utilisation, review of the hospital’s staff establishment and operational budget as well as making use of agency nurses to relieve the critical nursing shortages for the operating theatres and ICUs.
The provincial health department’s turnaround strategy for 2012 to 2014, amongst others, sought to address key issues such as staff shortages, repairs and purchasing of medical equipment and the issue of budgetary constraints in Gauteng health institutions.
