Electronic bed management for GP
JOBURG - The Gauteng Department of Health has introduced, as part of healthcare modernisation, a new Electronic Bed Management System (eBMS) which, in hospitals like the Steve Biko Academic Cluster in Tshwane, has reduced patient waiting times by at least two hours.
The department spokesperson, Steve Mabona said Gauteng hospitals manage an average of 27.7 million patients annually, and often experience a shortage of beds. To address this, the department piloted eBMS at Steve Biko Academic Hospital earlier this year.
Mabona said, “The eBMS allows medical staff to seamlessly identify the location of available beds across the cluster, thereby improving patient movement and management.
“Using innovative cloud-based technology, the system allows hospital staff to view current bed availability within their hospital on large display screens or over the Internet on their mobile devices or PCs.”
He said that since the pilot phase proved successful, the decision was then taken to roll it out across the cluster. Hospital staff and management have commended the new system. Hospital personnel, using the information gleaned from eBMS, have made both long- and short-term decisions which have led to some hospitals seeing a reduction in patient waiting times and better ward and staff utilisation, Mabona stated.
In addition to that, Gauteng Emergency Medical Services is also on board, and will use the system when transporting patients to hospitals, which will lead to better co-ordination of its services. Meanwhile, MEC for Health Qedani Mahlangu has said the introduction of this system was one of the initiatives by the department to improve healthcare provision through the use of technology. Mahlangu said she anticipated that the system would be fully implemented across the province by the end of the year.
And in rare agreement, the Democratic Alliance Gauteng Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom applauded the system and said it was needed to cut down on long waiting times for beds and assist ambulances in finding hospitals with open beds. He said, “I hope that this modern system avoids cases like that of Herman le Roux (43) who broke his knee last week on Wednesday and had to wait 20 hours before he was admitted to a bed at the Steve Biko Hospital…
“Better management of beds is a step forward, but the overall shortage of beds and staff needs to be addressed in the province as a whole, in order to provide a quality health service.”
