Well, as the saying goes, “a new broom sweeps clean”.
The newly appointed acting CEO for Tambo Memorial Hospital has undertaken to bring a fresh perspective and ways necessary to improve quality of care at the more than a century old heath facility.
Born and raised in the small dusty township of Riverlea in southwestern Johannesburg, Manning studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he completed his medical degree in 1988.
He worked in the public sector as a manager for more than two decades and also has some private hospital management experience.
Manning said the main purpose of him coming to Tambo Memorial is to implement a quality improvement plan and to support the management team.
He has so far identified several issues that need attention, and stated that it is important for members of the public to be made aware of the hospital’s action plan to address all the issues serving as stumbling blocks to delivering quality services.
“Our patients deserve safe patient care and experience that is respectful and shows caring and compassion. It’s a big task, but not an impossible one. We just have to make sure the staff members understand it and also create an environment conducive for them to make this possible,” he said.
According to Manning, the areas of concern include the state of the aging infrastructure which creates a problematic environment and areas that are not clean enough. But there are action plans to start improving service.
“We are implementing action plans aimed at improving our services, cleanliness in the hospital, making sure staff members are motivated, as well as bringing in additional staff,” said Manning.
Some of the hospital’s ways to motivate and deal with staff morale is looking for ways to reward staff, such as worker of the month programmes where managers will acknowledge and recognise workers who are doing good work.
“Some of the key issues the public is experiencing are poor staff attitudes, long waiting times and poor records management. As part of the action plan to address these issues, we have organised two-day extensive customer care training for staff which will help them understand the purpose, mission and vision of the Department of Health and what is expected of them.
“This training will also equip supervisors with the right skills to manage staff and deal with these issues when they do arise.”
About the records management, Manning said the records department is currently at medium-term intervention because the whole system is going to be overhauled and they are going to introduce an electronic records management system.
This is expected to show through by the end of the year, as it is a work in progress until they get it completely right.
Manning, however, indicated that the public may still experience some difficulties with the records, but there will be some improvement as the weeks progress.
“I’m aware that there are issues of water dispensers and that some of the toilet facilities don not meet the needs, but those areas are being dealt with.
“Contractors have been appointed to redo some of the plumbing and we expect those issues, including the ablution blocks, to be resolved within a few weeks.”
When asked if the hospital has adequate human resources, Manning said: “The facility has about 1 500 staff members, but because the hospital has become busier, there are some areas that need additional staff.
“We need additional clerks, cleaners and some additional medical specialists, but those are not things the hospital has control over. We have, however, motivated to our central office to assist us with additional posts to employ more people, but that’s a long-term process.
“The hospital has just finished a patient satisfaction survey which will tell management what patients are saying. A staff satisfaction survey which will also allow management to hear from staff will also be carried out.”
Complaints process
Manning reminded the public that there is a complaints management process which allows patients who complain to get the opportunity to give their sides of the story.
“Complaints are addressed by a manager and the person who rendered the care, and if the complainant remains unhappy, the matter can then be escalated to head office if the hospital is unable to resolve it.
“For any issues related to service delivery, patients can approach the immediate supervisor of that area – if not resolved, go up to management offices on the third floor and ask for the quality manager whose sole responsibility it to deal with such issues.”
About service providers, Manning said in general they have service providers who respond adequately, but the hospital sometimes experiences delays or services not delivered on time mostly due to reasons beyond the power of the service provider.
The hospital’s interim communication and public relations practitioner, Thabile Mkhatshwa, echoed Manning’s words and stated that although some of the complaints relate to generic problems, management is also aware that some of the hospital staff members have attitude issues. The facility isn’t the best, but some of the issues can be identified and subsequently addressed through communication and efficient two-way interaction between management and the public.
“We want to win the confidence of the community back, and that’s why we have this satisfactory survey, which is not designed to just tick a box, but to genuinely get feedback from our patients. We encourage people to partake so we can understand the whole situation and thus address their issues,” said Mkhatshwa.
The facility, which caters to people residing in Boksburg and surrounding towns and informal settlements, has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, with people complaining about poor service, failure to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and other issues.
