I cried after we left, and I felt so humiliated – Princess Clinic patient
The matter, which has not received attention for months now, has still not been amicably resolved and the victims said they will be content when the necessary action has been taken.
Staff at Princess Clinic were under scrutiny about poor treatment and unethical disregard following an incident on August 14 involving a verbal attack on a patient’s niece and nephew.
Natalia Scheepers, a patient at the clinic for 14 years, expressed her dissatisfaction with the treatment her family received after contracting a virus.
Scheepers, her sister Aisling King, along with her 13-year-old nephew and 20-year-old niece Susan Marais* visited the clinic on the day of the alleged incident.
Celeste Simolane, a nurse at the clinic was accused of breaching Marais’ confidentiality by disclosing sensitive information in front of her family and the staff at the clinic, and failing to ensure patient confidentiality.
“I had a feminine health issue that I wanted to discuss with the nurse, and I thought that she’d be discreet about it like the other nurses in the past but unfortunately, she wasn’t. She discussed my sexual history and business in front of my mother [Aisling] and 13-year-old brother. I felt so embarrassed,” Marais said.
It is alleged that the nurse administered an injection, but her disregard for protocol led to privacy infringements and ultimately their departure.
“A few minutes later I got called by the nurse and saw that she was shouting and screaming at my aunt [Natalia] and exposed all my confidential feminine health issues to the entire clinic – even the security had to hear about my feminine health issues,” Marais said.
She further said she experienced hostile treatment from a nurse who repeatedly poked a pen at her face, causing discomfort. The patient’s aunt intervened and demanded the nurse stop shouting.
“My aunt confronted my sister [Susan] who was embarrassed about what happened inside, and my mom asked the nurse why she did it, but the nurse screamed and exposed her [Susan] private matter to the entire clinic,” the 13-year-old boy recalled.
King further stated that once they were all done, they found out that they all had gotten meds except for her nephew.
“My sister [Natalia] went back inside to query about the medication, while sitting in the car, I heard some commotion and screaming, and when I got inside, I saw nurses pulling the other nurse back. I could hear it was chaotic,” King said.
Marais disputed the security and staff’s witnessing of the incident who in turn stated that they had a duty to protect their organisation.
On August 21, the family returned to the clinic and scheduled a meeting with Sr Thembisa, who asked them to formally file a complaint. However, the manager couldn’t find the complaint form, and the complaint was emailed.
On August 24, the facilities manager said she had spoken to the nurse who was allegedly experiencing a bad day and had apologised to Scheepers for the issue.
Despite being informed that the nurse had lost her mother, Scheepers still expressed her desire to file a complaint, but the manager promised counselling and a reconciliation meeting, which did not occur.
Scheepers said that she is uncertain if there was a disciplinary meeting or any action against the nurse due to her persistent negative behaviour after an incident, however, Scheepers visited the clinic on September 7 for her sick daughter and was informed by the facilities manager that the nurse is doing better and cited that she hasn’t received the complaint paperwork yet. Staff at the clinic are reportedly still showing a ‘don’t care attitude’.
Princess Clinic’s communications specialist, Virgil James cited that the facilities manager contacted Scheepers on September 18 to schedule the much-anticipated meeting for the next day for which Scheepers asked, ‘why only now?’
“She has had my number for the longest time now and I’ve sent countless emails, but only getting a response now?” Scheepers queried.
James said he had escalated the matter to the Department of Health, of which no response was received at the time of this publication.
An update on the meeting outcome will be published.
*Pseudonym used for protection of identification purposes.
