Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
Divorce, Maintenance, Personal Injury, Medical Negligence
I am probably not surprised that we don’t have hospital ratings in South Africa. Many of the hospitals, in particular the State hospitals, deliver atrocious service and even worse treatment. That is a reality, I am not being mean and I am not being nasty. Medical negligence cases are going through the roof largely because of how much negligence there is in these hospitals although there is much more touting in that field now also. It could so easily be resolved if, as is the case in the UK and in America, there were more ratings of the actual hospitals. In both of these countries they rate hospitals according to various procedures including pneumonia, heart failure, sepsis, stroke and respiratory failure and determine what percentage of clients die or have complications from these common procedures and conditions.
This allows you, for example, to research which hospitals have the lowest rates and choose to go to them instead of the most dangerous hospitals. The results are astounding – showing, even in countries like America and England, a substantial difference in the death rate between different hospitals – so, for example, as one hospital that has made the top 50 in America advertises, based on the data, that if people had been treated with the same standard and care at their hospital, 176,000 people less across America would have died in the last year. In other words, they have high standards and if other hospitals had similar standards, far less of the patients would die.
One of the sad things that perhaps none of us really want to face or accept is that your risk of dying is completely dependent, not only on what disease or complications you are suffering from, but very importantly on the standard of the healthcare you get. In many instances, the more money you have, the better healthcare you can afford, but in South Africa the success rates or failure rates of the various hospitals and groups are not published or revealed – in fact, I would not be surprised if they are not even tracked in the first place. Instead of always criticising personal injury attorneys, and some of the criticism may be justified, the Minister of Health could start by establishing tracking standards and publishing the results – let us know what the worst hospital in South Africa are so that not only can people avoid it, but the problems can be tackled. I have a very good idea as to which the worst ones are in the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan area, including Soweto.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Friday 09-Jun-17
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Comments
Cornelie said:
on Monday 03-Jul-17 04:46 PM
I think government hospital don't care about the service they give to the public I think their attitude is they don't pay for the service so why give them the best service. I feel sorry for people that cannot afford medical aid, even some Private Hospital is bad.
Liesl said:
on Monday 03-Jul-17 04:45 PM
If hospital knows they are constantly check and rated I think it could very well assist in getting better service and treatment, by the looks of things everyone is just doing their own thing without any or little accountability
Sinead said:
on Friday 30-Jun-17 08:55 PM
While other countries provide you with free Medical / Health Cover, we have the stress of having to pay for Medical Aid - which isn't cheap if you want good cover.
I don't know if rating hospitals will make them any better (or worse) though. It could be a good idea so that their negligence could decrease?
Working with the administrative clerks does get a bit frustrating but I also think I could see which hospitals might be better to go to based on the admin staff and how well they work.
Lourien said:
on Wednesday 21-Jun-17 03:04 PM
This is shocking and to think that our hospitals are in such a bad state that they actually can not show the ratings as I actually think the deaths are just to high and if those ratings are shown to the public everyone would be to scared to go to hospitals. As I have heard the doctors do not call them patients anymore as they use the word clients now focusing more on the money they will make, the longer the client stays in hospital and not thinking about the more patients they will get when their ratings go up as the best hospital.
Dune said:
on Wednesday 14-Jun-17 09:35 AM
This will most definitely not work, you are not in a position to choose to which hospital you would like to go to, if it is a state hospital. You are only allowed to go to the State Hospital in your district. Further they will not attend to you if you are not on the verge of taking your last breath and collapsing, because they have a list. Only serious patients gets attended to immediately, the less serious patient will be placed on a waiting list. This means that should you approach the hospital in your district, and they do not deem your injuries serious enough then they will place you on a waiting list which can be anything from a week to a couple of months, depending on the type of treatment required. So if you have some sort of a fracture then you will have to wait until there is space in the operating theater which can take up to a week or two. Its shocking to hear and see what happens in some of these state hospitals, in some cases its like listening to a horror movie, then you start thinking to yourself, how can a qualified surgeon/ nurse/specialist do this to a patient. Its shocking to say the least.
brumilde said:
on Wednesday 14-Jun-17 08:42 AM
It think its in France i saw that the state give doctors incentives if they preform well/. they get paid more if they help their patient lower their cholesterol or help them stop smoking. im sure this wont work here in SA as their is so much corruption, so the ranking idea sounds more viable
Ashleigh said:
on Wednesday 14-Jun-17 07:31 AM
Yes, ratings could give the people an idea on which government hospital is better but who will be monitoring the ratings that it would be true and correct. Government hospitals are horrific but I can also mention some private hospitals that are also questionable as to whether they are private or government.
Nikita said:
on Tuesday 13-Jun-17 04:53 PM
I think that if any of us knew the true ratings of the hospitals we have available to us we may end up choosing to rather die at home. I have gone to see a client in one of the Major JHB public Hospitals before and what I saw was shocking. There are people laying all over the corridors waiting for treatment, some having laid there for 2 days already. The specific ward I was in was the radiology ward (which might I add you have to enter through the dark dingy basement parking) which means that all these patients have some form of cancer and are in serious pain and discomfort. One needs to remember that cancer patients also have a very low immune system so laying on the floors etc. is not conducive to the recovery at all. One doesn't really know where to start with who to blame? Is it the availability of resources? Is it the laziness and unsupervised decline in service provided by the state paid nurses and doctors? Is it the Minister? It is a vicious circle and I think that the only way to fix it would be to publish the ratings.
Melissa van Tellingen said:
on Tuesday 13-Jun-17 02:39 PM
I agree that rating hospitals would be a great idea. It's probably going to scare a couple of people though. I feel terribly sorry for people who can't afford medical aid and has to go to public hospitals. The service and healthcare is just not up to par and the people of South Africa suffer because of it.
Henrietta said:
on Tuesday 13-Jun-17 10:36 AM
I also think rating hospitals will be a good idea so that we know what and where to go. Medical aid is so expensive and something that we can not go without even though they have a lot of hiccups. I have to say that some of the things I have heard of hospitals gives me nightmares.
Melissa said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 03:08 PM
To be on a medical aid is so important, because once something happens you don't want to find yourself in a public hospital. It is a very good idea to rate hospital according to their treatment and how they treat other people
Brenda Du Toit said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 02:04 PM
I think rating hospitals is a very good idea. Hospitals is very bad in south Africa today they don't care about the people.Its Very important to have medical aid today
Lucretia said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 09:18 AM
I was shocked to see the amount of hospitals in South Africa that have claims against them. This was never published for all to see, it was ONLY because I was involved with medical malpractice that I came to hear of these. Yes there are more problems in the government institutions but, the private institutions have their fare share of mishaps as well. I for one, now know of the hospitals in Johannesburg / Pretoria area that I will NEVER go to based on what I saw through the people who had the misfortune of something happen to them in these various hospitals. I think we should all be given this right to decide.
Angelique Jurgens said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 08:40 AM
I completely agree - the type of healthcare you get is dependent on how much money you have and what you can afford. It is a sad reality that people need to make sure that no matter how "little" they think they earn that they make sure they have a medical aid. Without one, you may as well sign your death wish. Even dealing with admin staff at a state hospital is ridiculous - no sense of time or urgency - so I can just imagine how much worse it gets with people who have the nonchalant attitude at the hospital. Rating hospitals would be a good idea - but I think for certain admin staff would be too much admin and then how they run their hospital would be put in the spot light! This would require accountability from our government. Accountability and initiative.
Daniella said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 08:39 AM
I feel as though medical aid is extremely important in South Africa, the last thing you want is to end up in a public hospital for something minor and leave with something more major. Especially because we work with them and I know how extremely difficult they can be.
Thabitha said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 08:15 AM
Unfortunately we can not choose which clinic or hospital we think is the best even if they were rated you will still have to go the hospital that is in your area with a proof of residential address, so as long you can not afford medical aid this is what you have to go through or stay home until you recover.
Michelle said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 07:41 AM
I think rating hospitals is a very good thing. You will also know then what to expect of the hospital and facilities. It’s scary to think your life depends on the type of medical aid you have. I know that Hospitals are very expensive but the rates of medical aid are just scary.
Angelique P said:
on Monday 12-Jun-17 07:34 AM
I hate it to go to the doctor. They don't really care about you they just want your money. When people go to the hospital they hope for recovery but there are so many cases where the people did not even go home because of the medical negligence. The hospital rates are ridiculous that's why most sick people rather stay at home then going to the hospital or doctor. Life is so expensive and to pay that kind of money to a hospital I rather stay at home as well.
Joyce said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 05:00 PM
I think that rating hospitals might reduce medical negligence and think that there is lot more medical negligence in Government hospitals than in Private hospitals.
Jadine Richards said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 04:34 PM
Unfortunately, in South Africa, the government would rather keep these facts and figures of Government hospitals hidden as if they were known, it would show the ruling party as incompetent. Private hospitals however, have the right to publish these stats, but they will not as they are not prepared to lose any patients as the private healthcare pool is so small and the competition is tough!
Liz said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 03:51 PM
The truth is that very few people in South Africa are actually able to choose the hospital they want to go to and will have to just bear the risk. I do, however, think that having a rating system in place will lead to more checks and enquiries as to why a rating is low and will help in tackling the problems experienced by that specific hospital.
Jolene said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 02:55 PM
Like Nina said, unfortunately you can’t choose which state hospital you want to use, you have to go to the clinic in your area and they will give you a referral letter to the hospital in your area. Like Juliet said we can maybe implement this for private hospitals but then again if the best private hospital is full and has no beds you will have to go to the next best one.
Scary things doesn’t only happen in state hospitals, private hospitals can also be very negligent, for example we get numerous calls about Clinix Botshelong about negligence during birth, which is a private hospital. State hospitals I would rate the worst in Gauteng is Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital & Kalafong.
Juliet said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 10:27 AM
Ratings will do nothing here. No one cares about anything. Even if the ratings are bad the people do not have access to internet to see these ratings and they have to go to the local hospitals. No freedom of choice here.
Maybe rating private hospitals would have an impact because people who can afford medical aid would probably have access to internet to access such ratings and make informed decisions about which hospital to use.
The rest of the nation is barely surviving earning minimum salaries and being the most vulnerable to illness and medical negligence.
Just think of how many women have been left in corridors, even kicked outside to the pavement to give birth with babies stuck half way out. Absolutely sick. Disgraceful!!!!!!! How much more evidence can you get. If a woman with a baby stuck half way out doesn't change anything a rating on a piece of paper most certainly will not.
Juliet said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 10:21 AM
I just said to the medico legal ladies yesterday that it is better to live in a shack and have medical aid than spend your money on a house & not have medical aid. Every week a client tells me a horror story about a government hospital. This week a 31 year old broke her back & the nurses force her to use a bed pan & she cannot even move so she keeps soiling her bed and they smack her and tell her she is disgusting and leave her to lie in it for hours.
I think the nurses are the absolute worst and a disgrace not just to their profession or South Africa but to the entire of humanity!! Absolutely disgusting how they neglect the vulnerable. There must surely be a special dark corner in hell for nurses who neglect people because to me they are clear cut murderers!!!!!!!
Nina said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 09:13 AM
Unfortunately people that make use of state hospitals are not in a position to choose to which state hospital they want to go to. Many of the state hospitals will show you away if you are not from that specific area. If you are resident in Johannesburg, you cannot simply rock up at Steve Biko and ask for treatment. They will tell you to go to the hospital in your area. Some hospitals will also show away patients if their condition is not serious enough. Just to use Steve Biko as an example again, if you are not seen as a serious patient, Steve Biko will tell you to go to a clinic or to Tshwane District Hospital. Unfortunately this is the reality at this stage and state patients can't pick and choose the hospital they want to go to.
Suzanne said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 08:59 AM
This is a great idea. It would be great if you could do research and establish at which hospital you would receive the best treatment for your specific illness or injury. As you mentioned, I don't think that this is even being tracked in SA and would need a lot of support to be implemented, but definitely worth it.
Jessica M said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 08:50 AM
I agree if we were able to rate, the government would then see and maybe stop such horrific service. I am not being mean either. But truth is I would rather have medical aid than a car to be honest. Becuase I would never want my boys to go to a government hospital. I think they are THEE WORST ever. It's sad that they don't get enough slack for the terrible jobs they doing.
Jessica Apfel said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 08:29 AM
Public hospitals are synonymous with poor care and service but I recently had the exact opposite experience. My Sister underwent a double mastectomy at the Helen Joseph under the care of the best Oncologist in JHB! This is often the case that the same practitioners that practice in private hospitals practice in Public Hospitals too... Johannesburg General Hospital also has some of the best equipment and is an Academic Hospital.
Clare said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 08:29 AM
Hospitals are bad in South Africa I mean the other day I heard on the Radio about a man that took his wife to two different government hospitals because she was in Labor, and they both turned them away because they didn't have any beds available this lead to the women giving birth to there baby on the Train. It is so sad and very important to have medical aid. However I have seen a lot of private hospitals looking bad as government hospitals. Today Doctors and Nurses do have passion for there jobs anymore its only a job to them.. What happened to caring for people????
Alexis said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 08:27 AM
I would not be surprised either to be honest, but the standard in SA is very low. One of the problems however, is that regardless of any rating coming out and people knowing that a certain hospital is bad, most people cannot afford to go anywhere else. This country needs to up its game in more than many ways and improve on itself. Health, education, corruption and the list could be endless
Bianca N. said:
on Friday 09-Jun-17 08:25 AM
I agree. If people knew beforehand which hospitals have low standards and provide bad care, they would know where to go should they need health care.
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
