Media statement.
Tuesday, 27 August 2024.
GQEBERHA – Following the revelations in the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) preliminary report that the Eastern Cape has around 2500 medico-legal claims, mostly by allegedly unscrupulous lawyers, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in the Eastern Cape hereby warns that further claims may not be ruled out in the next coming years due to a number of concerning factors.
This is because there is a severe shortage of staff, particularly specialty-trained nurses in the province, while there is not a single institution of higher learning (there are four institutions in the province) that has the accreditation to offer specialist nursing programmes at the post-graduate level.
The SIU report shows that majority claims relate to maternity-related cases, where most of them concern children who suffer cerebral palsy – often as a result insufficient supply of oxygen to the baby during the delivery stage.
DENOSA believes that situation in the province, as far as medico-legal incidents, could worsen further as the province relies on universities and colleges outside of the province for the production of post- graduate programmes in key specialist areas like Midwifery, orthopedic, pediatric, emergency, theatre and ICU, to name a few, for all its more than 900 healthcare institutions.
What will worsen the situation further for the province is the new curriculum in nursing, which, since 2020 when it commenced, it now produces registered nurses who are less independent as they are no longer comprehensive, under the R171 programme by the public nursing colleges. The new nursing cadre no longer has midwifery and mental healthcare capability, compared to the previous nursing cadre (the new Registered Nurse studies for three years; and the previous Professional Nurse under the R425 programme studied for four years, with both midwifery and psychiatry included in their curriculum at undergraduate level).
When these Registered Nurses are employed in the healthcare facilities, they will not be able to care for pregnant patients and mental patients, and will therefore not be expected to perform such functions until they have acquired such skills at post-graduate level (each nurse will need to go to college or university to study each of these programmes for at least a year for each).
The major challenge with the previous nursing programme, under R425, was lack of in-service training for the newly- qualified nurses during their year of community service. As a result of gross staff shortages, instead of their hands being held during that period, they often had no one to mentor them. But, at least, they had acquired comprehensive training.
The R171 cohort will need proper guidance.
Therefore, the combination of the above challenges, namely the absence of colleges and universities to train nurses of the province the specialist skills in the province, the newly-qualified cohort of nurses no longer with midwifery and mental care knowledge, and the continuing shortage of specialist nurses, will only exacerbate the crisis in the province.
And DENOSA believes this can only worsen the situation of skills shortage, which could lead to more medico-legal claims by legal representatives of affected patients, unless the provincial government embarks on a massive poaching of specialist nurses from other provinces.
DENOSA Eastern Cape condemns in the strongest terms the unethical behaviour of those healthcare workers who are allegedly colluding with the unscrupulous lawyers as their action tarnishes the entire healthcare profession that belongs to committed and dedicated healthcare professionals.
End.
Issued by DENOSA in the Eastern Cape.
For more information, contact:
Veli Sinqana, Provincial Secretary.
Mobile: 072 432 8226.
Sivuyile Mange, Provincial Chairperson.
Mobile: 072 575 5136.
