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Nurses’ religious objections push SA teens to backstreet abortions
An 18-year-old from rural Limpopo said she had to resort to an illegal abortion from a traditional healer after a nurse at a public...
Reusable catheters safe and shave millions from budget – UK study
Reusable catheters could not only slash hospital costs but are just as safe for patients as single-use ones and don’t increase the risk of...
Respectful maternity care can save South African lives – Lancet
A recent study led by the SA Medical Research Council and UKZN and published in The Lancet Regional Health – Africa, found that improving...
Western Cape Health to ramp up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts
Western Cape Health is ramping up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts, but after years of austerity and with long lists of vacancies,...
Africa’s health worker brain drain tracks colonial patterns
Africa has a challenge to retain the health staff it needs – with the WHO estimating a global shortfall of 11m health workers by...
Patient deaths to be probed as Dora Nginza strike ends
The Eastern Cape Department of Health is to investigate allegations that several deaths occurred when nurses and porters abandoned their posts for an illegal...
Obstetric violence rampant in KZN, Gauteng, survey finds
Pregnant women in South Africa – specifically in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal – are subjected to alarming levels of obstetric violence during their pregnancies, childbirth...
Livingstone Hospital evicts 50 nurses
More than 50 nurses have been evicted from what was meant to be temporary accommodation at Livingstone Hospital, forcing many to scramble for places...
UK hospital where no one washes their hands – for health reasons
With a move that flies contrary to conventional wisdom, NHS England staff have pulled the plug on handwashing as part of the fight against...
Woman dies after striking nurses turn away patients
An ongoing pay dispute between the Northern Cape Health Department and nursing staff came to a tragic head this week when a woman died...
UK health services alarmed by drop in international nurse numbers
Experts have sounded the alarm over the sharp decline in the numbers of international nurses and midwives arriving in Britain, predicting that stricter immigration...
Prenatal stress tied to faster biological ageing in babies – US study
In what is thought to be the first study to directly link prenatal stress hormones with primary tooth eruption, US researchers have said that,...
Netcare optimistic about boosting nurse-training numbers
Netcare CEO Richard Friedland has said there is a glimmer of hope that the company might finally be able to train more nurses –...
Late teens, early 20s, crucial times for lifelong heart health
Emerging adulthood – around 18-25 – is full of major transitions, but also a stage where behaviours that diminish heart health become more common....
Nurses' glove-use for IV antibiotics may cause more harm – Australian study
A scoping review reveals that nurses’ routine use of non-sterile gloves during IV antibiotic preparation offers no proven protection, and may actually undermine infection...
Council warns against fraudulent nurse certification
The South African Nursing Council (SANC) has issued an urgent warning to employers, nurses and the public regarding fake SANC Registration Certificates, Annual Practising...
Veteran nurse, with PhD at 74, still leading with grace and grit
As a midwife, professional nurse and motivational speaker – among many other things – Princess Anne-Sheilah Makhado notched up her latest achievement, graduating with...
Nurses plead for their mental health, wellness support
Burnout, fatigue and lack of support have become silent threats to South Africa’s nursing workforce within hospitals, clinics and military facilities, with healthcare leaders...
Nigerian nurses end week-long strike after government agrees to deal
Nurses in Nigeria’s public hospitals suspended a seven-day “warning strike” on Saturday after reaching an agreement with the government over the implementation of their...
UK ends overseas healthcaring jobs, throttling African hopes
Britain is banning the recruitment of overseas care workers, saying the country’s visa system has been dogged by abuse and exploitation – the news...
Regulator wrongly approved hundreds of nurses to work in UK
A damning report reveals that more than 350 fraudulent or under-qualified applications from centres in India, Nigeria and Pakistan were mistakenly approved by Britain’s...
Groote Schuur nursing boss blazes a trail
Groote Schuur Hospital’s first male nursing manager, Aghmat Mohamed, has an abiding passion for his profession and cares deeply about the state of nursing...
KZN nurse conquers struggles to become a doctor
Onazo Daniso balanced life as a medical student by day and a part-time nurse by night, and her dedication was rewarded when she graduated...
Motsoaledi's R2bn boost for healthcare staffing … but not enough for nurses
There was good news from the Health Minister this week with the announcement that more than R2bn has been allocated for the hiring of...
Five US nurses on same hospital floor all have brain tumours
A US nursing union is calling for further investigation after an internal probe found no environmental risks within a Boston hospital where five nurses,...
US court denies fired nurse’s bid to reinstate licence
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has denied former nurse RaDonda Vaught’s bid to have her licence reinstated, after her conviction in March 2022 of...
NHS applies brakes to overseas nurses, doctors
Nearly half of the doctors employed by NHS England are non-British, while a quarter of the declining nurse numbers come from other countries, with...
Global study gives snapshot of nurses’ mental health burden
A first-of-its-kind study provides an insight into the substantial mental health burden on nurses around the world, the research documenting the impact of three...
Call for security at 24-hour clinics to be in-sourced
Clinics operating on a 24-hour basis should have in-sourced security, with surveillance cameras and panic buttons, Denosa President Simon Hlungwani says, calling on government...
ANC compromise on NHI not on the cards, says Motsoaledi
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says reports that the ANC was prepared to compromise on NHI and medical aid schemes were without basis, denying that...
SA nursing changes not enough to address shortage crisis
The increased “professionalisation” of nursing in South Africa, in recent years, marks a significant shift in the perception and practice of this essential healthcare...
Health union's appeal bid dismissed by ConCourt
The Constitutional Court has dismissed the application by the Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu) for leave to appeal the Labour Court’s decision...
Kenyan project cuts labour ward staff burnout
High-quality care during childbirth is critical for preventing maternal and newborn deaths, with alarming figures showing that an estimated 800 women die every day...
Call for moratorium on nurse recruitment from battling countries
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) wants the WHO to enforce a “time-limited moratorium of active recruitment of nurses” after a spike in nurse...
Nurse suicides linked to probes by ‘toxic’ UK nursing council
The UK nursing regulator’s chair says he will not step down after a damning report revealed that at least 16 nurses have committed suicide...
South African nurses lured to well-paying Canada
Nurses from South Africa – which already has a chronic shortage of them – are among the thousands of local medical professionals being lured...
New Eastern Cape Health MEC vows to fix distressed hospitals
East London’s Frere Hospital has a drastic shortage not just of 18 midwives and nurses but also of beds in its maternity section, which...
Eastern Cape nurses demand better security after fatal robbery
A brutal robbery at a rural clinic in which a security guard died in a hail of bullets has enraged nursing unions in the...
California nurses protest ‘untested’ AI tools
Union nurses in the US are rallying against the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools which they described as “untested” and “unregulated” during a...
Post-surgery complications higher for African children
After a recent study revealed abysmal outcomes after anaesthesia and surgery for African children with complication rates up to four-fold higher and mortality rates...