Shocking treatment of psychiatric patients at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

The Democratic Alliance is appalled by the report today that 30 psychiatric patients are kept in poor conditions in an emergency ward at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital.

According to a quoted source, these patients “are being kept like animals.” They do not have privacy or direct access to toilets, relieving themselves on the floor or in a bottle as security escort them to toilets only once or twice a day.

Safety is an issue as a patient has attacked a nurse in this ward.

It is utterly shameful that this is happening at our flagship hospital in our province.

I will be pressing the Gauteng Health Department to take urgent measures to provide decent facilities and treatment for these patients.

 

More ops cancelled at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

Cold weather has forced the cancellation of surgery at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital for the last three days as the heating system has failed.

Temperatures in the operating theatres are as low as 8 degrees centigrade, but the temperature needs to be set at about 18 degrees for safety reasons.

More than 50 elective cases have been cancelled so far, but emergency surgery is continuing in suboptimal conditions.

This latest disruption to surgery follows 2218 operations that were cancelled for various reasons at the hospital from January 2022 to May this year.

It is disappointing that lack of maintenance and equipment failure causes suffering to patients who can wait more than a year for many operations.

Earlier this week a number of wards at the hospital were flooded and some patients had to be evacuated.

Professional management is needed to fix this hospital’s infrastructure instead of the perpetual bungling and corruption in the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development.

Rubbish build-up at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

General rubbish has built up for weeks at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, causing a health hazard.

I visited the hospital this morning and saw piles of uncollected rubbish in black bags and also loose, with lots of birds pecking at it (see photos here and here).

Whilst medical waste is collected separately by a private contractor, the general waste is supposed to be picked up regularly by Pikitup, but this has not happened so it has built up to unacceptable levels.

I saw a Pikitup truck when I was there but the backlog will need more than this to be cleared.

It is worrying that the uncollected rubbish attracts rats and other vermin.

It’s another example of poor management by the hospital which should be especially careful to avoid health hazards.

2218 ops cancelled at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

An astounding 2218 operations have been cancelled or deferred at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital (CMJH) since January last year.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

A variety of reasons are given for the cancellations, including the following:

• No ICU/High care beds
• Low Medical Air Pressure
• Equipment and consumables
• Human Resources
• Deferred for Emergency
• Industrial Action
• Load-shedding
• Lack of funds

There are also patient-related factors, like the patient’s condition, the patient did not fast, invalid consent form, refused treatment, did not come, or died before the operation.

The MEC claims that only 1.3% of the cancellations could have been avoided by better management but I doubt it is so low. I get many complaints about surgery cancelled because there are no ICU beds, equipment isn’t working, or there is no clean linen.

Patients are hugely distressed when operations are cancelled for avoidable reasons. It adds to the more than 2500 patients on surgery lists at CMJH, some of whom have been waiting for years.

Imagine suffering with a hip problem for two years but your operation is cancelled at the last moment.

According to Nkomo-Ralehoko, remedial measures include extra training, decentralisation, and strengthening of Supply Chain Management to ensure dependable clinical support.

I am disappointed that more ICU beds are not planned as this is a major cause of long waiting lists for the more complicated operations.

More needs to be done to ensure that surgery at this hospital runs smoothly with minimal disruptions.

 

No progress in fixing Charlotte Maxeke Hospital parking crises

Staff and patients continue to struggle with parking at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital despite promises that extra bays would be made available by November last year.

This is what I found when I visited the hospital yesterday (Monday 23 January) after receiving complaints about the parking.

Doctors and nurses have to come in super early to get the few open bays in the hospital basement, so most of them park far away at great inconvenience.

It’s even worse for patients who are sickly and have to walk long distances to get into the hospital. I gave a lift to 70-year-old Salim Abraham (not his real name) who had to park more than a kilometre away and uses a walking stick. He drove from Eldorado Park to drop his wife off at the diabetes clinic.

Roads around the hospital are congested with vehicles and double parking (see photo here).

I was disgusted that the accessible parking at the province-owned Emoyeni Conference Centre is still empty when this could easily have been made available (see photo of empty bays here).

The best solution would be to use the empty parking areas above where the fire started. I saw hundreds of bays that should already be in use as a new ramp has been built that gives access to them (see photo here).

It seems there is gross incompetence in doing the speedy repair that would safely open up many of the underground bays.

Previously the hospital had 1700 on-site parking bays, but now it only has 229 bays in the hospital and 400 nearby. This means there is a shortage of more than 1000 parking bays, causing misery as staff and patients hunt for parking every day.

I will continue to pressure the Gauteng Health Department to use the Emoyeni parking and to open up more parking in the hospital as soon as possible.

Security at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital should be fired after new theft

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for the security company at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital to be fired after yet another major theft of copper pipes.

Early this year on the 7/8 January weekend, R3 million of copper piping was stolen from above an operating theatre.

This follows the theft last year of copper cables worth R30 million, and equipment worth R200 000, from the hospital.

These high-value thefts occurred despite spending more than R30 million every year at this hospital which is supposed to have functioning security cameras at key locations as well.

I suspect there has been inside collusion with these thefts, but whatever the reason, the security company has to be held accountable.

All Gauteng hospital security contracts were supposed to be advertised more than six years ago after the expiry of the previous two-year contracts, but these contracts have been irregularly extended on a month-by-month basis.

There is an urgent need for new security contracts at all Gauteng public hospitals to ensure cost-effective and efficient security to stop the thefts and protect staff and patients.

Charlotte Maxeke Hospital short of more than 1000 parking spaces

The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital has made slow progress in providing parking to replace what was destroyed in the fire 18 months ago, with a shortage of more than 1000 parking spaces.

According to a written reply by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature, the hospital used to have 1700 on-site parking bays, but now has only 229 bays in the hospital and 400 nearby.

This means there are 1071 fewer parking bays than previously.

Alternative parking is provided at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital (140 bays), 120 at the Johannesburg College, 80 at the hospital residence, and 60 at the Wits Web Help Building.

I have proposed that the hospital use the parking at the province-owned Emoyeni Conference Centre which is opposite the hospital. Nkomo-Ralehoko says that the hospital requested parking at Emoyeni from the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) in October 2021, but was informed
that the parking bays are not accessible as it was privately leased.

Confusingly, she says that her department “will approach the Department of Land Affairs through National Department of Health to negotiate the use of parking at Emoyeni.”

An extra 300 rebuilt parking bays are supposed to be available on 6 November this year, and the hospital has approached Wits University and KPMG for more off-site parking using shuttle services.

Meanwhile, hundreds of staff and patients are frustrated every day as they hunt for parking and walk long distances to get to the hospital.

It shows the poor leadership of CMJH CEO Gladys Bogoshi who should have pushed far earlier for solutions to alleviate this parking crisis.

For instance, why are they only now approaching the Department of Land Affairs in order to use the Emoyeni parking?

The DA proposes that hospital CEOs be appointed using rigorous criteria to ensure that only tiptop people are chosen who get things done, instead of weak CEOs chosen for political reasons.

Patients again suffer poor food at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

Patients are again suffering from poor food at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital despite promises of improvement following food shortages earlier this year.

I am getting complaints about very watery food that is unappetising and lacks variety.

Yesterday there was mixed vegetables, fish, and spinach for lunch that many patients found inedible.

The supper was spinach, carrot, mashed potato, and mystery meat.

See photos here, here and here.

The watery food is from the Gauteng Health Department’s Masakhane Cook Freeze Factory.

In April this year, the then Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi said in a written reply to my questions that “there is limited plates/meal variety for each diet code and thus there is a lot of repetition of the meals. The factory states that they have supply chain challenges and thus a shortage of stock … the factory also has challenges with faulty equipment, intermittent water, electricity supply and shortages of staff.”

It is disappointing that there has been no improvement in the food at this major hospital.

Sick people need good nutrition to assist in their recovery.

However, the cook-freeze method is unsuitable for hospital food as it destroys nutrients.

The hospital should not be forced to use the poorly managed Masakhane Cook Freeze factory.

The DA advocates value-for-money catering contracts to provide healthy and tasty food for hospital patients.

R118 000 to repair CT scanner at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

R118 000 will be spent to repair the CT Scanner that was vandalised at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital and caused the delay in reopening the Accident and Emergency Unit.

This was revealed today by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in an oral reply to my questions at a sitting of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

According to Mokgethi, the CPU was stolen from the CT Scanner, and other electrical items were also damaged and stolen, resulting in a total estimated loss of R87 000.

She said that the thefts occurred at the construction site in the hospital where the contractor was responsible for security.

I asked the MEC why the hospital’s own security was not held accountable as well, and she said that action was being taken against them.

It is vital that security is stepped up at the hospital as staff and patients suffer terribly when thefts disrupt hospital services.

Patients suffer from food supply problems at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

Patients at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital suffer from food supply disruptions, including bread and dairy products.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Mokgethi, meals are supplied by the Department’s Masakhane Cook Freeze factory, but the hospital is often told that the food supply will be interrupted on very short notice.

Furthermore, “there is limited plates/meal variety for each diet code and thus there is a lot of repetition of the meals. The factory states that they have supply chain challenges and thus a shortage of stock … the factory also has challenges with faulty equipment, intermittent water, electricity supply and shortages of staff.”

The MEC admits that “the portion sizes of the food types are too small.”

The hospital has been without sliced bread since October last year because of contract problems and financial constraints. They had to bake their own scones and rusks, and bread rolls were only delivered from 1 April this year.

Yogurt, red meat and vegetables have also run out in the last few months.

The official daily menu provided by the hospital looks good, but this is not what patients actually get. For instance, a month ago the Sunday food was as follows:

• Breakfast – porridge with a roll
• Lunch – dry mixed vegetables, cauliflower and dry cooked mielies
• Supper – an apple and a roll with a margarine tub.

Photos of the meals are available here, here, here and here

I am concerned that sick patients are not getting proper nutrition to assist their recovery.

The hospital should not be forced to use the poorly managed Masakhane Cook Freeze factory. An additional issue is that the cook freeze method destroys nutrients in the food.

A complete overhaul is needed of food supply contracts to ensure that our public hospitals have fresh and healthy food for patients.