To Mr Bekenya (Estcourt Hospital CEO) –
I visited Ward 3 and 6 at Estcourt Hospital over a period of two weeks. Both visits were met with horror and disappointment. The lady was admitted in the morning and I visited with friends at 3pm, just to find that her drip wasn’t working.
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I approached the nurses’ station, where three ladies were lounging with no enthusiasm to help her. Their attitudes towards me were disgusting to say the least.
This patient was in for diarrhoea and dehydration. What good was this drip to her when it wasn’t working? I approached the staff three times, to no avail. Your staff have no compassion towards nursing; they couldn’t care less for the patients.
Why are they even working there? Treatment of us all is shocking.
I gave this patient liquids because clearly she wasn’t being seen to or even cared for. The water was just dumped on the side ‘table’, which was out of reach and she was too weak to try and reach for it.
On visiting a friend in the men’s ward, I was met again with no interest in taking care of the patient.
He was unclothed during visiting hours; no care to give the patient dignity when he himself could not do anything about it. He was linked up to a monitor with someone else’s reading on it, which was not cleared. The catheter was lying on the bed at his feet; it should be placed below the bed so that the urine can run downwards and not back into the patient.
Do the patients get washed down at all?
Very sad to say that this hospital is undesirable. It was once an excellent hospital, but the care and nurture has been lost. It seems like what the staff have signed on for is only their salaries.
I trust that you will try and address the issues and make a difference. Management has to lead and stand firm.
Also, I have noticed a heck of a lot of beds, equipment, etc, dumped outside. Can you not fix and / or sell it for scrap metal and better the service to the patients?
A lot of changes need to take place to make our hospital a worthy one.
Angela Keyter
The management of the hospital held a redress meeting on January 22. The concerns raised by the complainant were noted by the hospital management. The hospital management sincerely apologised to the complainant and further made a commitment to change things for the better. The matter has been resolved.
Ms Noluthando Nkosi (spokesperson for the Department of Health)
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