NCOP
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 668
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 02 December 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 40)
Mrs B L Abrahams (DA-Gauteng) to ask the Minister of Health:
(1) With reference to his reply to question 2686 in the National Assembly
on 14 November 2011, how many (a) inspectors does the R10.25 million
equate to, (b) facilities will each inspector have to inspect and (c)
health facilities, including (i) hospitals and (ii) primary health
care clinics are in South Africa;
(2) (a) who conducted the training to the inspectors, (b) how was the
training conducted, (c) in which country and (d) how were the local
conditions taken into account;
(3) with regard to a certain statement (details furnished), who is
conducting the evaluation of this process;
(4) whether any reports have been (a) made available and (b) circulated
for (i) inputs and (ii) comments; if not, why not; if so, (aa) what
are the findings of the reports, (bb) when were they circulated and
(cc) to whom;
(5) whether, with regard to a certain statement (details furnished),
there are sufficient national inspectors to fulfil this
responsibility; if not, how will the re-deployment of clinical staff
impact on the current short-staffed facilities; if so, what are the
relevant details?
CW831E
REPLY:
1) (a) The funding available has enabled us to recruit 20 new
inspectors as well as critical admin support staff;
(b) The workflow processes and route planning that will determine
the exact number of facilities to be covered will be reviewed
during the first few months of 2012.
2) (a) The local training of Inspectors was conducted by content
experts from within and external to the National Department of
Health;
(b) Through both theoretical and practical classes over 6 weeks;
(c) In South Africa, while Senior managers and team leaders in
addition are joining 2 weeks of the induction programme run by
the experienced UK Healthcare Regulator Care Quality Commission
(CQC) in the UK for their new inspectors;
(d) This composite approach ensures local conditions are fully taken
into account.
(3) The evaluation of the current assessment procedures is being
conducted by the Office of Standards Compliance so as to ensure that
all relevant stakeholders are involved. Input has been obtained from
provinces including facility level staff, from all Clusters within the
National Department of Health, from experts (national and
international) invited to participate in a review panel, as well as
from other organisations using the tools who have provided feedback.
Recommendations are being incorporated into a revised tool.
(4) No inspections for purposes of certification of compliance with
National Core Standards have been conducted by the Inspectorate to
date as staff have only just completed induction training. No reports
have therefore been produced.
(5) Given the number of health establishments which must be inspected for
compliance against the National Core Standards as contemplated in the
Amendment Bill to the Health Act, the current group of inspectors will
have to be increased through recruitment. The inspectors will be
appointed from health (doctors, nurses, pharmacist etc) and allied
health professions (environmental health officers, medical
technologists, optometrists etc) and hence the impact on overall
numbers or specific health disciplines will not be significant.
END.