Woman treated badly investigated
The two implicated staff members were on contract and their employment was terminated by the City of Johannesburg Health Department on Monday June 30.
SOUTH HILLS – The Region F’s Health Department official visited the complainant at her home on Thursday July 3 at 08:10, following the complaint lodged by the patient to find out what actually happened on that day.
The official wanted to find out about the staff members who were implicated and also about the faulty equipment mentioned. The clinic file did not have some of the pages that showed that the patient was seen at the clinic, but the pages were later found at her home.
The patient visited the clinic on June 4, 6 and 23. her blood pressure was taken on those three visits and her blood glucose was also tested on June 6 as the equipment was available. The blood pressure was raised on the second visit (June 6) and as an Insulin-dependent patient she was then referred to South Rand Hospital.
However, information on the clinic card was scanty for that particular day. The main complaint/assessment/diagnosis were not noted, only the prescription Allergex and Panado tablets.
According to the patient the two Primary Health Care workers did not manage her well as she tried to explain to them about her health problem, and she was told that she was not sick and only wanted medication.
Apparently the personnel spoke in the vernacular, heard by the grandson who accompanied her. When she tried to ask to see the Clinic Manager, she was told that she was not in and apparently during their deliberations, one of the personnel allegedly said to the patient that “her attitude stinks”. The two implicated staff members were on contract and their employment was terminated by the City of Johannesburg Health Department on Monday June 30.
The City’s Health Department has a complaints management procedure in place to be utilised within each facility. The community members are also urged to communicate with the facility managers if they are not happy with the service received at the clinic before the staff members left the clinic. Notwithstanding the many challenges that are faced on a daily basis, the City of Johannesburg remains confident that it is taking reasonable measures within its available resources to improve the quality of health care of the people and will endeavour to progressively improve service delivery, according to Nkosinathi Nkabinde, Communication Specialist of the City of Johannesburg Group Communication and Tourism Department.
