Care facilities ease pressure on hospital beds

OWN Correspondent|Published 10 months ago

Clockwise from left are Fatima Peters, CEO of the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre, Nomtha Bell-Mandla, professional support services for Klipfontein and Mitchell’s Plain substructure, Mahboob Roomanay, acting director of Department of Health Klipfontein and Mitchell’s Plain substructure, Sadia Abrahams, assistant manager for community based services for the Department of Health for the Klipfontein and Mitchell’s Plain substructure and Professor Nomafrench Mbombo, Western Cape MEC of Health.

Western Cape Health and Wellness MEC, Professor Nomafrench Mbombo, visited the Mitchell’s Plain Transitional Care Facility on Tuesday April 2.

On Tuesday April 2 Western Cape Health and Wellness MEC, Professor Nomafrench Mbombo, visited the Mitchell’s Plain Transitional Care Facility.

This facility is equipped with 148 beds and provides intermediate care to ease the pressure on the demand for hospital beds, said Professor Mbombo,

“This means that medically stable patients who are unable to be discharged but do not require acute care, will be able to fully recuperate without congesting the hospital platform,” she said.

While the department has always offered intermediate care through NPOs, the Transitional Care Policy, which has been implemented since September 2022, has outlined the concepts, principles and considerations for the implementation of transitional care in the Western Cape, she said.

“This has evolved from our previous policy position of intermediate care released in 2012 and also accounts for the lessons learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said.

Currently the Western Cape has 539 transitional care beds in the city and 353 in rural areas. These services have been allocated R469.875 million for the 2024 and 2025 financial year, she said.

At the Mitchell’s Plain Transitional Care Facility, the Department contracts the non-profit organisation, Aquarius, to offer the following services; short-stay intense rehabilitation, wound care, end-of-life care, post-acute care and palliative care for admitted clients and guidance of families as part of the health promotion and supportive education provided by the facility.

CEO of the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre, Fatima Peters, who also oversees the metro’s transitional care services, said: “Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of the Western Cape Transitional Care Policy, the department is making use of transitional care in order to alleviate the pressures being placed on our acute hospital platform.”

“Facilities such as the Mitchell’s Plain Transitional Care Facility are playing a crucial role in bringing together multidisciplinary teams, including rehabilitation and community care workers, to provide these essential packages of care,” said Ms Peters.

Sadia Abrahams, assistant manager for community-based services for the Department of Health for the Klipfontein and Mitchell’s Plain substructure said: “It takes up to 12 weeks for recovery such as strokes, heart attacks, hip replacement and brain injury, to name a few. They must be referred to by the hospital.”

Professor Mbombo said: “As our country navigates a constrained budgetary period, we must look at ways to ensure that the whole healthcare system is strengthened to manage both the present and future demands. This is why transitional care is, and will continue to be, a strategic focus for the department going forward.”

“With our acute hospital services operating under immense pressure, transitional care facilities such as these are playing an important role in our service redesign process where we are aiming to optimise the efficiency, equity and quality of care across the province,” she said.