Two Cure Day hospitals have recently been accredited by COHSASA and Cure Day is now placing the remaining six facilities into the programme. This is due to the firm belief of Managing Director, Bert von Wielligh, that COHSASA accreditation adds value to the services provided.
COHSASA is the only African health service assessment body accredited by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua). It has been operating on the continent for the past 22 years and has worked in all types of healthcare facilities.
(ABOVE): Bert von Wielligh, MD for the Cure Day Clinics Holdings, outlines the plans his group has for involvement with COHSASA and growing Cure Day into a national footprint. Bert is well-versed in the subject of patient safety and quality improvement and assurance. He was the MD for the Curamed Group and served as Operational Director for Medclinic’s Tshwane Region. Bert’s experience includes involvement with the National Hospital Network (NHN) and the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA).The philosophy that underpins Cure Day Clinics is to provide private health care that is more affordable and therefore more accessible to more South Africans.
Beginning operations at Medkin in March 2008, Cure Day Clinics – wholly owned by doctors and incorporating an authentic BBBEE partnership – has grown to eight facilities. Four of these are in Gauteng (Medkin, Midstream, Erasmuskloof and Fourways), one in Bloemfontein and three in the Western Cape in Paarl, Somerset West and Bellville.
It is the Somerset West and Bellville hospitals that have recently been accredited by COHSASA. Both facilities achieved impressive scores with Cure Day Clinics Somerset West achieving a score of 96 out of a possible 100 and Cure Day Clinics Bellville scoring 95.
Following the award of accreditation certificates to the two Cure Day facilities, Jacqui Stewart, COHSASA CEO presented CobiMarie Stander, Manager of Cure Day Clinics in Somerset West and Ezette van Braker, Clinic Manager, manager of Cure Day Clinics in Bellville with the Katrin Kleijnhans Quality Award in recognition of their teams’ commitment to improving quality and patient safety.
Included in this accreditation process is the assessment of compliance with the South African Society of Anaestheologists (SASA) guidelines on procedural sedation and analgesia.
Procedural Sedation has gained popularity as a cost-effective alternative to general anaesthesia for certain procedures. While the safety of procedural sedation is not in dispute, its administration does require strict adherence to internationally accepted practice guidelines. SASA issued the guidelines for all practitioners providing sedation. Prof James Roelofse and his colleagues in the Society of Sedation Practitioners of South Africa (SOSPOSA) developed the guidelines to incorporate all aspects of patient safety in procedural sedation. Patient safety is a key component of all COHSASA’s healthcare standards.
Same-day surgery has grown internationally due to the improvements in medical technology and anaesthesia, leading to faster recovery times and fewer side effects.
Michelle Gumede reports in Business Day, “Day hospitals are a recent addition to SA, but more and more of these convenient one-day facilities are cropping up across the country. Already 41 facilities — mostly in Gauteng and the Western Cape — are represented by the Day Hospital Association of SA (DHASA).
“Companies such as Netcare, Mediclinic, Advanced Health and the Cure Day Clinic group are among those that have taken advantage of this international trend — even though South Africans have not yet come to terms with these facilities which experts say offer patients better value for money.
“The hospitals focus on the provision of short-procedure surgical services as well as on diagnostic procedures that have to be undertaken in an operating theatre on a same-day basis. Services ideal for such hospitals include plastic surgery, gynaecological, orthopaedic, urological and maxillofacial surgery, and several dental, ophthalmic and general procedures.
“A shorter stay reduces the risk of cross-infection, to the extent that Discovery Health has also encouraged specialists to operate in day hospitals to save costs, and other schemes such as Gems and Polmed are following suit.”
