JSE listed Netcare has recently completed extensive upgrades to its hospitals in Pietermaritzburg and Midrand. The company is also celebrating a big milestone at its hospital in Port Elizabeth and with more upgrades planned for 2015 and 2016, this is a company that is showing no signs of stopping its investment into continent-leading health care facilities.
One of the fundamental objectives of any business is growth. Along with profit, nearly all businesses target growth and this is true for all industries. Even in an extremely customer-centric industry such as health care, growth and expansion are still important targets. In South Africa, the largest provider of private healthcare services is Netcare and, of course, this is an ambitious company that is constantly looking for opportunities to grow and in the last few months it has completed important expansions to two of its major facilities and celebrated a big milestone at another.
At the Waterfall City Hospital in Midrand, Netcare has opened a specialised orthopaedic and sports centre together with an additional 36 bed orthopaedic ward, a new 22 bed surgical ward and a ten bed paediatric intensive care unit. At St Anne’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, Netcare recently announced the opening of new medical and surgical wards as well as a high care unit, fully refurbished and re-equipped 16 bed maternity unit with three labour wards, a new dedicated caesarean theatre and a six bed neonatal ICU. Meanwhile, at Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth, Netcare is celebrating 30 years of successful operation.
WATERFALL CITY HOSPITAL
“Midrand is one of the ten fastest growing development nodes in South Africa, along with areas such as Centurion, Fourways and Sunninghill,” Rolien Kuhne, Waterfall City Hospital General Manager explained in a statement. “Netcare Waterfall City Hospital is situated in close proximity to the major highways connecting these areas, and is thus easily accessible to healthcare consumers in the vicinity, many of whom happen to be working in Midrand,” she said.
“As part of the expansion, we are establishing a specialised orthopaedic and sports centre, together with an additional 36-bed orthopaedic ward. A new 22 bed surgical ward and a ten bed paediatric intensive care unit will also open,” she added.
“We have tried our level best to minimise the impact on our patients and their loved ones. We believe that this expansion will make a meaningful contribution to the wellbeing of the greater Midrand community. Our vision is to be the hospital of choice for our community and the additional facilities and capacity will make it possible for us to remain abreast of the needs of the communities we serve.
“Our increased bed capacity opens the door for more specialists to practise at our hospital and accordingly, a further 16 specialists’ consulting rooms have been built.”
These expansions will bolster what was already an extremely well equipped hospital. The site has an internationally accredited centre of excellence for bariatric surgery and is home to one of Netcare’s two da Vinci Si centres for robotic-assisted surgery. National Renal Care is opening a unit at the hospital to serve chronic renal patients and provide acute renal services to in-hospital patients.
Netcare operates 50 hospitals and four Public Private Partnership hospitals across South Africa and in March, the company gave Waterfall City Hospital a Quality Leadership Award for medium-sized hospitals in the company’s Gauteng South West region after a long-term improvement in different quality indicators.
“When it comes to all-embracing quality healthcare, the people of Midrand and its surrounds need look no further than Netcare Waterfall City Hospital,” said Kuhne.
PIETERMARITZBURG HOSPITAL
In Pietermaritzburg, upgrades have been made to the emergency department with a host of new facilities and technology. The upgrades were completed in August and staff and patients are already starting to feel the benefit.
“We are really pleased that we are now able to be of greater service to the communities we serve. Our extremely busy emergency department sees approximately 1700 patients each month, ranging from those injured in motor vehicle accidents to those suffering serious asthma attacks. Our staff members have been doing a wonderful job but, due to the huge demand for our services, it was essential for us to create the necessary capacity in our facility,” said Netcare St Anne’s Hospital General Manager, Louis Joubert in a statement.
“We thank our patients, their families and the community for bearing with us during this hospital expansion project. We trust that the fruits of these labours will bring great benefit to the communities we serve,” he added.
In May, other upgrades were completed to the hospitals facilities and new medical and surgical wards and a high care unit were completed. In August, it was not just the emergency department that was upgraded. There was also full refurbishment and advancement of the 16 bed maternity unit with three labour wards, a new dedicated caesarean theatre and a six bed neonatal ICU.
“Netcare St Anne’s Hospital has grown from strength to strength and we are now in an even better position to help those in need of urgent medical assistance,” said Sister Irene Jones, unit manager of the emergency department, in the same statement.
“Our state-of-the-art emergency department now includes eight examination bays, two resuscitation bays and a theatre where local anaesthetic procedures are performed. The existing Netcare sexual assault centre – a private self-contained facility with an en-suite bathroom which is located in the emergency department – has also been upgraded.
“Through providing exceptionally professional services in this modern, private setting, we aim to provide a streamlined, efficient and compassionate service,” she said.
Demand for healthcare services continues to grow at St Anne’s Hospital and as the facility builds on its already sterling reputation in KZN, it looks as though these upgrades have come just at the right time for Netcare.
GREENACRES HOSPITAL
In August and September, Netcare was celebrating a huge milestone at its Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth. It is now 30 years since the opening of the facility and staff and patients look back through the history of the hospital with fondness.
“In the early days, the hospital was much smaller and offered only basic services,” Netcare Greenacres Hospital acting general manager, Dina Botha said in a statement.
“When the hospital – then known as Poli Clinic – opened its doors on 1 August 1985, it had only ten beds, a casualty unit with three resuscitation bays and a two-bed treatment room, a pharmacy and two theatres. Radiologists, Drs Vosloo & Partners, offered an X-ray service next to the two ground floor theatres.
“We now have 340 beds in the hospital, including 223 medical and surgical general adult beds, 23 paediatric beds, 15 obstetric beds and 19 day beds. We also have 35 adult intensive care beds, seven neonatal intensive care beds, 18 adult high care beds, as well as an emergency department with eight examination and four resuscitation bays.”
To mark the 30thanniversary, Botha announced that the hospital would soon undergo a large expansion program to modernise many facilities.
“We are about to embark on a further expansion project,” she said “which is expected to take around ten months. The construction project will see the main reception being upgraded and the addition of a coffee shop, doctors’ suites, a management suite and administrative office space.
“The hospital has grown from strength to strength over the past 30 years and we have no intention of resting on our laurels now. We look forward to further improvements and advances in patient care in the decades to come.”
One of the hospitals longest serving employees, Glenda Paton from the billing department, who has been employed at Greenacres since it first opened as Poli Clinic in three decades ago, has seen the benefit of all of the positive expansion projects over the years.
“For the first five years I worked as an assistant nurse. As the hospital grew, I gained experience working in the orthopaedic and medical wards. I still miss the interaction with patients, especially the elderly people. However, I know that the work I do now is also a vital part of the service we provide our patients,” she said in a statement.
Dr Mervyn Williams, a retired cardiothoracic surgeon, has performed life-saving surgery in Port Elizabeth and he is also impressed with the development of facilities over the years. “There have been tremendous advances in technology, such as much more sophisticated surgical equipment and techniques, safer anaesthesia, as well as advanced diagnostic technology and non-invasive treatment options,” he said in a statement.
In an industry that requires such a large amount of trust from its clients and a forward thinking approach to every day to day task, it seems that Netcare is still leading the way. These recent investments and expansions are proof of the organisations commitment to one of the key elements of its vision, to provide ‘excellence in a unique brand of patient care delivered by people who are passionate about the sanctity of life, personal respect and dignity’. With more investments planned for 2015 and early 2016, this is a business that is certainly moving forward at pace – something which you would not only want, but something which you would expect from the national industry leader in healthcare.