Incidents of harmed patients have risen in Gauteng public hospitals which have recorded a staggering 7386 Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) last year, up from 7117 SAEs the previous year.
SAEs refer to unintended harm inflicted on patients, potentially leading to injury, permanent disability, or even death. These incidents arise from various factors, but they are frequently linked to substandard hospital conditions and medical negligence.
The latest SAE figures were disclosed by Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.
The continuing uptrend is worrying as there were 6910 SAEs recorded in 2021, up from 4701 SAEs in 2020, and 4170 SAEs in 2019.
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has the highest number of SAEs, with 1257 incidents. This is considerably higher than the SAEs at the other academic hospitals – George Mukhari (600), Steve Biko (592), and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg with 498 SAEs.
Other hospitals with high SAEs include the following:
Helen Joseph Hospital – 434 SAEs
Weskoppies Hospital- 426 SAEs
Leratong Hospital- 414 SAEs
Tembisa Hospital – 384 SAEs
Comparing the smaller district hospitals, the Bheki Mlangeni Hospital in Soweto sticks out with 109 SAEs, as opposed to 51 SAEs at the Tshwane District Hospital and only 18 SAEs at the South Rand Hospital.
I am most concerned that there were only 55 disciplinary actions for these thousands of SAEs, many of which were avoidable with better care.
The department claims they implement a wide variety of measures to reduce SAEs, but these are clearly failing as they go up year by year.
Patients should be healed in hospitals, not suffer injury and even death because of poor care. High payouts for medical negligence are another outcome of SAEs.
The DA will push for management changes at the problem hospitals that account for a disproportionate number of SAEs, as well as rectification of staff and equipment shortages, and robust disciplinary measures to curb poor performance that harms patients.