LOUIS TRICHARDT – Nurses from various hospitals in the Vhembe region gathered at the local showgrounds last Wednesday (23rd May) to celebrate with the various hospitals, individuals and teams that have shown excellence in service delivery through quality care in their respective hospitals.

According to the Chief Professional Nurse at the Louis Trichardt Hospital, Mrs PC Raulinga, this is an annual event established in 1999 and is aimed at encouraging nurses of the eight hospitals in the region to improve patient care. She added that the purpose was also to recognise those hospitals in the Vhembe District that are still striving to provide quality service to the communities.

"When we started, the standard of service delivery in our hospitals was very poor and the standard has improved drastically. However, it must be revealed that this is an initiative by nurses in the Vhembe region to create the spirit of competition amongst them with the hope of improving the quality of patient care". The Chief Professional Nurse at Donald Fraser Hospital, Mrs. Beatrice Maqondose, outlined that this is a yearly event. She added that the objective of the peer reviews was to improve patient care as a whole, to evaluate nursing standards, to identify areas that need stepping up of nursing care, sharing information as well as contributing to the training that is taking place within the district. "No one is born feeling jealous, unhappy, negative or unworthy. All these are learnt and can be unlearnt and replaced with more positive attitudes," she said. On behalf of the National Education Health Allied Workers Union, Mrs. Miriam Matodzi Ramadwa, stipulated that the event would motivate workers to continue performing to the best of their ability for the betterment of service to patients at the Hospitals. "Irrespective of all challenges and constraints you are faced with, you still maintain the optimum standard of work you are delivering to your patients," she said

The Provincial MEC for Health and Welfare, Mr Sello Moloto, said nursing is a profession whose classical orientation and development evolved around the excellence of care and not of academic achievements or technologically advanced equipment. "In the aftermath of the democratic breakthrough of 1994, when the majority ascended to power, our government introduced an integrated Primary Health Care System, that is the cornerstone of our policy, and that is an attempt to redress the imbalances of the past and afford the most vulnerable of our citizens access to basic health care in a more qualitative but yet convenient way" said Moloto.

He said nurses are expected to be the custodians of the policy and their excellence must write its history through the success of this endeavour. In addition, he encouraged nurses to put the interests of their patients first and to always endeavour to offer the best possible care. " We do not want to continue solving problems of patients falling from beds, patients dying in bathrooms trying to bath themselves, some patients even getting lost in the bush after running away from hospitals due to unbearable treatment" he said. He warned, however, that deviant behaviour would not be tolerated and strong corrective measures would be taken in order for professionalism to prevail for those who would breach the rules of the Department.

Hospitals were awarded trophies in various categories and that included psychiatric, casualty, surgical, maternity, paediatric, theatre medical, nursing administration, environment, emergency trolleys, and health care. The winners were Psychiatric: Siloam; Casualty: Siloam; Surgical: Donald Fraser; Maternity: Elim; Paediatric: Tshilidzini; Theatre: Louis Trichardt; Medical: Elim; Environment: Musina; Emergency: Musina and Trolleys: Elim.