Hospitals you are most likely to get harmed at
Carltonville Hospital among those with the lowest incidences.
More than 20 000 patients in Gauteng state hospitals have been harmed by negligence in the last two-and-a-half years.
This was revealed by Gauteng Health MEC, Gwen Ramokgopa in a written reply to Jack Bloom, MPL and DA Gauteng shadow Health MEC’s questions in the Gauteng Legislature on Serious Adverse Events (SAEs), which are defined as events that result in unintended harm to the patient by an act of commission or omission rather than by the underlying disease or condition of the patient.
Also Read: Shocking stats released of negligence claims against state hospitals
According to Ramokgopa, the SAEs included, “allegations of negligence, incompetence of staff members, human errors, abscondment of patients and system failure”.
A total of 20 417 SAEs were recorded from 2016 to date, and are as follows:
2016 – 6 192
2017 – 9 767
2018 up to June – 4 458
The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the most dangerous hospital for patients in Gauteng, with 4320 recorded SAEs over this period.
The other academic hospitals had the following number of SAEs:
Steve Biko Hospital – 1789
George Mukhari Hospital – 1574
Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital – 1262
The worst SAE numbers in other hospitals are as follows:
Sebokeng Hospital – 1 487
Thelle Mogoerane Hospital – 1 387
Helen Joseph Hospital – 1 044
Tembisa Hospital – 865
Rahima Moosa Hospital – 860
Mamelodi Hospital – 824
Leratong Hospital – 651
Far East Rand Hospital – 644
Tambo Memorial Hospital – 615
Kalafong Hospital – 413
Pholosong Hospital – 384
Bertha Gxowa Hospital – 323
Heidelberg Hospital had the lowest number of SAEs (42), followed by Tshwane District (50), Pretoria West (66), Odi (77), Carletonville (90) and South Rand (92).
Ramokgopa said that action taken after SAEs includes discipline, referral to the police, and referrals to the Health Professions Council and the SA Nursing Council, as well as various preventative measures to minimise SAEs.
The shockingly high number of harmful events to patients highlights the crisis in public health that is driving up medical negligence cases, which lead to huge court-ordered payouts.
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