It’s Sunday and you meet up with friends to go jogging. After a split second of being distracted, you twist your ankle, and you are in pain. Time to visit the emergency unit at Life Wilgeheuwel Hospital to make sure its not a fracture.
What happens at the emergency unit – what can I expect? Life Wilgeheuwel Hospital Emergency Unit is open 24/7/365 and our professional team of highly skilled emergency trained doctors, led by Dr Michael Waldeck, Head of the Emergency Unit and nurses are here to assist you in any type of emergency. The emergency unit offers a wide range of specialist cover and the treatment of any medical emergency.
Upon arrival, you will first need to go to the reception desk where the receptionist will ask you to complete the arrival register. Next you will be triaged and then asked to open a patient file. All you need is your ID card and/or medical aid card (if on a medical aid).
We assess every patient seeking emergency medical assistance at our unit and give them a score that indicates how severe their condition is. We then assign a colour code to the patient based on that score. This process is referred to as triage coding, an industry benchmark that is used locally and internationally.
The colour code reflects how urgently the patient needs treatment and we use it to ensure that priority patients (for example patients with life or limb threatening condition or injury) receive attention before those with less serious illnesses or injuries. We strive to always treat every patients as quickly as possible, but an emergency could mean that some patients who are already waiting for treatment might have to wait a little longer. We will attend to every patient as soon as possible.
After triage, the nurse will either ask you to wait in the waiting room or will take you through to one of the treatment rooms.
An emergency doctor will attend to you and might request special investigations, such as x-rays, scans and blood tests. All patients that require admission to the hospital will be admitted under the relevant specialist(s). If you are well enough for home-based care then you will be discharged with a prescription.
Our team is dedicated to making life better. Day or night, we are here for you!
Address: Life Wilgeheuwel Hospital, Paul Kruger Road, Radiokop Ext 13, Honeydew.
Tel: 011 796 6622/ 011 796 6549
