The City of Joburg continues to roll out extended hours of service to additional clinics as part of its mission to improve access to healthcare services to communities.
Since the introduction of an extended and integrated service delivery strategy in Primary Health Care facilities that was launched by Mayor Herman Mashaba at Princess Clinic, Roodepoort in October 2016, the city has extended the service to 11 more clinics. The City is pleased to announce that, effective from 1 February 2018, this service delivery strategy modeled from the framework will also be rolled out to Alexandra East Bank and Sinqobile Clinics, bringing the total to 13.
Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Health and Social Development, Dr Mpho Phalatse is excited about the continued roll out of the extended hours of service and says access to healthcare is a basic human right that residents are entitled to.
She said Mayor Mashaba’s program to extend hours of service in our clinics is a vital shift in how the City offers health care services and that the roll out will continue in stages.
Phalatse said many of the City’s residents, who often had to choose between going to work and attending to their healthcare needs, now had a viable option.
“The rollout of this program has given hope to our residents that indeed a day will come when we will throw away the keys to all our clinics. With the support and dedication of the Health and Social Development team, the current administration has managed to extend this generous offering to 13 of our clinics, and the plan is to bring this number to 26 by the end of the 2018/19 financial year. Phalatse said even though there were budget constraints, her department was working hard to finance the extension of service hours to the City’s clinics.
The City has 81 fixed Primary Health Care (PHC) clinics that render the comprehensive package of primary health care services to the community, historically over five days a week, Monday to Friday. The operating hours varied from clinic to clinic, ranging from 07:30 to 16:00 and 08:00 to 16:30.
“We are not legislated to offer a 24 hours health care service, but through the steps we are taking, more and more of our clinics will operate until late in the evening and this service will be rolled out as per the budget we get’’ said Phalatse.
In line with the integrated extended services package at the clinics, social workers are employed to focus on rendering social development services and ensure linkages with internal and external stakeholders for referral purposes.
“We noticed that our residents don’t always know what programs are available to address their socioeconomic needs. These social workers are there to conduct assessments of the needs of our patients and either attend to them or provide referrals accordingly,’’ said Phalatse.
Princess Clinic and Freedom Park Clinic, which are operating until 10pm on week days have seen over 30% more patients in the last six months (July 2017 to December 2017) and the number of patients who visit the clinics during weekends and public holidays is increasing steadily.
Since July 2017 to December 2017, about 50 000 patients have been assisted after hours across the clinics, including weekends and public holidays and the number is rising.
The types of emergencies seen in our clinics after hours include:
• Shortness of breath, respiratory distress, pneumonia, asthma, vomiting and dehydration;
• Maternal: PV bleeding, miscarriages, pre-eclampsia, BBAs, post-partum haemorrhage;
• Injuries post Motor Vehicle Accidents, assaults, stab wounds, burns;
• Paraffin poisoning/ ingestion; and
• Dog bites.
What is also important to note is that since the start of the program to extend operating hours, the waiting times have been declining, thus improving the quality of service to our patients.
Waiting times have improved with the most marked improvement recorded at Hikhensile Clinic in Region A, where the waiting time has reduced by 58 minutes from July 2017 to December 2017 and Bophelong Clinic in Region C has reduced by 50 minutes.
The overall results from the Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) shows that 86.7% of the patients/clients that utilize the health service in the clinics with extended service hours are satisfied with the services.
The patients could utilize the extended clinic hours for all primary health care services including chronic care. “It’s such an honour to be part of a team that’s revolutionizing healthcare in the City of Johannesburg. Hearing testimonies of complications and deaths averted as a direct result of this intervention affirms that this is a move long overdue, and one that the city should continue to invest heavily in. We will continue to empower the health system to adequately meet the needs of our residents. After all – a healthy city is a working city, added Phalatse.
EXTENDED SERVICE HOURS
Clinic Region Service hours Start dates
Freedom Park G Weekdays 07h00 to 22h00,
Saturday / Sunday / Public Holidays 07h30 – 13h30 1 April 2017
*Princess C 1 November 2016
Hikhensile A Weekdays 07h00 to 19h00,
Saturday / Sunday / Public Holidays 07h30 – 13h30 1 April 2017
Randburg B 1 April 2017
Zandspruit C 1 April 2017
Albert Street F 1 April 2017
Protea Glen D Weekdays 07h00 to 18h00,
Saturday / Sunday / Public Holidays 07h30 – 13h30 1 September 2017
8th Avenue – E E 24 January 2018
Sinqobile clinic D 1 February 2018
Bophelong C
Weekdays 07h00 to 16h00,
Saturday: 07h30 – 13h30 1 July 2017