Ngwelezana nurses demand overtime payment

A SEVERE shortage of nursing staff at Ngwelezana Hospital has caused tension between nursing staff and hospital management.

This is after the hospital introduced isolation and surgical wards without hiring more nursing staff to fill vacant posts.This has angered nurses, who now demand to be paid overtime while the hospital recruits personnel to fill the vacant posts.

Disgruntled nurses have submitted a formal complaint to the Office of Health Standards Compliance for urgent intervention.

‘Staff shortages, especially in nursing services, compromise the well-being of our patients. This has resulted in an increase in the number of patient safety incidents, and has tarnished the hospital and Department of Health’s reputation,’ a source said.

‘Tension between management and nursing staff is one of the major causes of the high number of staff absenteeism. Another worrying factor is that, as nursing staff, we are forced to admit acute psychotic patients in the general medical wards, which also compromises the safety of other patients.

‘These operational issues need to be addressed urgently.’

KZN Department of Health spokesperson, Ncumisa Mafunda, said they were aware of the complaint lodged with the Office of Health Standards Compliance.

‘There are indeed certain units that require additional nurses to bolster service delivery. Some staff shortages are owing to the scarcity of specialised nurses, such as those who are qualified and experienced enough to work in ICU and theatre,’ she said.

Mafunda added that there were many considerations before payment of overtime was approved.

‘This includes, but is not limited to, considerations of staff to patient ratios and available staff to meet service demands. If the need for overtime has been identified, the process entails applying to the provincial office to consider and approve payment of overtime.

‘This is in line with what has been done in many other nursing departments at the hospital, where overtime was applied for and supported by hospital management,’ she said.

Regarding the management of mental patients, Mafunda said the law stipulates that clinicians should first exclude other possible medical conditions that might result in a patient having mental affectations before declaring them as ‘mental healthcare users’.

‘It is these patients who cause unhappiness in the medical wards while they undergo proper assessments. However, systems have been put in place to ensure that the problem is managed and the process is made seamless in accordance with the Mental Health Care Act.

‘The hospital is not aware of the so-called tensions between nurses and management, but is aware of challenges that nurses have raised about a number of issues, which have been attended to. Others are being attended to on an ongoing basis.

‘The hospital has a functional Institutional Management and Labour Committee (IMLC), on which all labour unions are represented. The committee meets with management regularly to discuss issues that affect hospital staff.

‘The IMLC did not indicate that there was any tension between the nurses and hospital management,’ she said.

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