Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa

Media statement

Monday, 13 August 2018

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in KwaZulu-Natal would like to bring to the public attention that the Department of Health in the province continues not to comply with the approved staff establishments in many hospitals and clinics, owing to slow pace of service and exploitation of staff who are not remunerated for the extra work they do.

DENOSA has noticed that many health facilities and almost all Community Health Centres (CHCs) in the whole province have disregarded the approved staff establishments in terms of their service package and have added more health programmes in facilities without adding the number of workers and updating the staff establishments. 

This worsens the poor quality of health that community members are receiving at the points of service, because health workers are few while service packages have been increased. “Almost all CHCs now have additional programmes such as test-and-treat in the management of HIV/AIDS, and yet these were not in the approved package,” says DENOSA Provincial Secretary, Mandla Shabangu.

“That simply means both the pace of service for patients becomes slower every day, especially as more and health workers are not replaced when they leave that institution. It also means health workers have to stretch themselves to the breaking point and without any adjustment in their remuneration in line with the added tasks; and that is exploitation. And often it is the main reason for the resignation of health workers.”  

What worsens the situation is that, in terms of nursing services, lower category nurses such as enrolled nurses and nursing assistants are no longer hired or replaced upon retirement or resignation on claim that they are not critical positions. DENOSA asks the question: who is to do the work that was designated for the enrolled nurses when none gets replaced upon resignation or retirement?

DENOSA is making this known because the public is not made aware whenever these developments take place, and nurses are often the ones who are left to deal with the anger of patients and community members over the slow pace of service at service points. 

This is not the only problem with the Department, however. There are thousands of employees who have not progressed to the next grade, despite the fact that they had gone through training, due to lack of funding. It is a requirement to move from grade one to grade two, which must happen after ten years. 

These employees cannot have their performance remunerated accordingly due to the fact that PERSAL system is declining to process payment as their notches remain, which is not of their doing. “We have a long list of affected workers in this regard,” adds Shabangu. 

DENOSA demands that the Department first corrects the staff establishments and then correct the shortage of health workers, because the Department is talking about correcting the shortage based on the old structure which that does not have the new programmes. 

DENOSA will mobilise nurses not to comply if they are forced to work according to work on programmes that are not reflecting in the approved staff establishment.   

End 

Issued by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in KwaZulu-Natal 

For more information and comment, contact:

Mandla Shabangu, DENOSA KZN Provincial Secretary

Mobile: 071 643 3369

Tel: 021 305 1417