A “massive number” of unfilled nursing vacancies as well as a decrease in funded posts at clinics in the Western Cape and severe staff shortages are buckling an already strained system, reports Weekend Argus.
Day hospitals and clinics have 4,484 funded posts, but of those, 188 are vacant. Most are for nursing positions in clinics, mainly in the Cape metro and in highly-populated poorer communities.
In response to a written question from the ANC to Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo about the shortages in community health-care centres over the past seven years, it was revealed that in the past year alone, the number of vacancies increased by 153, and the department stopped funding 17 posts.
Retreat Day Hospital has seven nursing vacancies of 98 funded posts, notes the Argus, while in Bonteheuwel, Vanguard Community Health Centre has 10 vacancies, seven of which are for nurses.
Western Cape chairperson for the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) Eleanor Roberts said: “The nursing shortage has been a problem even before the pandemic, and remains an ongoing challenge.
“The department has made inroads in hiring more staff, but most of those have been going to COVID facilities or wards. But these are temporary measures that don’t address the long-standing challenges.”
The ANC’s spokesperson for health in the provincial legislature, Rachel Windvogel, said the shortages highlighted the department’s shortcomings.
“We know many of our clinics have serious service pressures because of shortages and it’s also a concern that the number of funded posts decreased this year, compared to last year.
“We want to understand how many of these posts are filled by permanent staff, and how many by agency personnel. This government has spent billions to hire agency personnel, instead of recruiting permanent staff. This raises legitimate concerns of a government that is captured by these agencies,” said Windvogel.
Labour brokers have also come under the spotlight: R3.7 million of the R125m total expenditure on COVID-19-related projects went to agency support or labour brokers and outsourced services.
Provincial health spokesperson Mark van der Heever said the department tried to fill funded critical posts as soon as possible. “Where there is a need for staff, while waiting to advertise the position, the department uses agency staff to assist during this process, as this is factored into our personnel cost as the post is funded for,” he said.
Weekend Argus article – Nurses shortage causes strain
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