Local hospital explains Covid-19 ward and regulations at hospital

Life Glynnview and Life The Glynwood Hospital manager Hendrik Swartz assisted the City Times with a breakdown of how the pandemic has affected healthcare workers, as well as how the hospital is operating under Covid-19 regulations.

How many staff members do you have working in the Covid-19 wards daily?

Employee numbers within these wards are fluid. It is determined daily and largely depends on the acuity of the patients, as well as the number of patients within the ward and/or ICU.

Do you have staff rotation within the Covid-19 wards? How does it work?

Employees are designated to work either in the Covid-19 areas or in the non-Covid areas. We do not rotate our employees between the different areas.

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What do staff working within the Covid wards have to wear?

Our employees are provided with PPE, in line with national protocols depending on where they work and the level of risk.

We refer you to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) website for recommended PPE guidelines, with which we comply.

What are your protocols and regulations for staff working within Covid wards?

National infection prevention protocols are enforced in all our units.

Our healthcare workers follow stringent PPE protocols and universal masking by all employees is mandatory within all our facilities.

We have a team of infection prevention specialists who monitor and check compliance to ensure all processes are followed.

These include:

• Routine screening and testing of all persons before entering our facilities to identify present signs and symptoms of Covid-19 infection and establish the risk of exposure.

• Mask-wearing by patients and doctors.

• Sanitising before and after each patient.

We also have dedicated isolation wards for positive patients and patients under investigation (PUI).

Staff who work within the Covid ward, are they allowed to be anywhere else in the hospital or work on another floor? How does this work?

Employees are designated to work either in the Covid-19 areas or in the non-Covid areas. We do not rotate our employees between the different areas.

Access to Covid-19 wards (unless working within that ward) is otherwise restricted.

What are the steps that each staff member has to take before and after being in the Covid ward? Please explain them?

Employees are issued with scrubs and PPE and are required to wear these at all times.

The passages within the designated Covid-19 wards are also deemed part of the Covid-19 area, thus employees in these wards are required to wear their PPE all day.

What is the patient care procedures/processes in your Covid-19 wards?

We have dedicated Covid-19 wards for positive patients.

Patients under investigation are placed in a separate ward.

All dedicated wards have restricted access.

ICU patients have individual cubicles with doors, ensuring patients are not in contact.

The cubicles are fogged between patients.

High care positive patients are isolated to one ward, with beds spaced according to World Health Organisation guidelines.

We also have two medical wards dedicated to Covid-positive patients.

These wards are for those patients requiring hospital treatment but who do not require high care or ICU treatment. In these wards, there’s more than one patient per ward.

The number of rooms is based on the number of wards that are converted.

This is based on demand.

When the demand is low, we have one dedicated ICU and one dedicated medical ward.

All beds in these wards are dedicated to Covid patients.

When the demand increases (such as during the surges of each wave), additional wards are allocated.

Covid-19 wards are access-controlled with restricted access.

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When will the vaccine be made available at your hospital and how much will it cost?
The vaccine roll-out will be aligned to the government’s programme.

Are patients who die of Covid placed in the hospital morgue?
These patients are taken directly to a funeral home.

If a staff member contracts the virus, how does the hospital deal with this?

All employees are screened daily before reporting for duty.

Employees who display Covid-19 symptoms are assessed for the need for a test.

Should they test positive, such employees are required to isolate.

Those who test negative may return to duty.

To ensure we have enough staff at all times, all Life Healthcare hospitals have a Doctor Covid-19 Committee which works closely with hospital management in the daily and ongoing clinical decisions affecting patients, staff and doctors to ensure the situation is managed optimally.

A plan is made to respond to the increased demand and human resources challenges.

Anything else you would like the public to know?
Visitation is still currently suspended.

While we are aware of the important role visitors have in the healing journey, we need to make sure the risks of infection being brought into the hospital is reduced.

We thank our doctors, nursing practitioners and employees for their dedication and commitment to our patients during the pandemic and salute their hard work and unwavering care they provide to our patients daily.

We also thank our community for their patience and understanding during these difficult times.

The number of hospitalised Covid-19 positive patients has reduced significantly in line with national and provincial trends.

Our doctors continue to consult with patients in their rooms and to admit patients as we resume elective surgery once more.