GEORGE NEWS - Medical emergencies are never planned. In fact, they often come at the most inconvenient times. Often when someone has a health situation that requires medical care, they rush to the nearest hospital's emergency centre (EC). But, did you know that the EC is not always the correct channel to access health care?
To get the best health care for your health situation, you should access the health care system correctly. Not all urgencies are emergencies. You should visit your local primary health care facility, such as a day clinic, for minor illnesses such as ear pain, mild cuts, diarrhoea, mild allergic reactions, and long-standing problems such as nose bleeds, ankle sprains or abdominal pain.
The EC primarily treats patients with life-and-limb threatening conditions, and as such prioritises the patients with gunshot wounds, stab wounds, heart attacks, severe head injuries, stroke, or very sick children to be seen first.
The EC does not stock medication for patients with chronic (long-term) conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, blood pressure, asthma and TB. Patients should always get these medicines from their clinic. The EC only issues emergency medicine for a 24-hour period.
At present, most ECs experience severe service pressure because patients do not access health care correctly, which results in high case load of non-urgent cases being seen at the EC. George Hospital's EC is an example. Although it is built to render quick and efficient emergency life-saving medical care and is staffed correctly, the EC is often flooded with less-than-urgent cases, which impacts service delivery and waiting times. In the past six months, 6 570 such cases were attended to.
"When less-than-urgent cases flood the EC, it causes a reduction in efficiency of both the emergency service and the routine medical care provided," explains CEO Michael Vonk.
Renovation
Due to essential renovation work over the next six months, the number of patients George Hospital's EC can attend to will be reduced. Patients can help to manage the service pressure on the EC by accessing health care at their local facilities and only coming to the EC for truly life-and-limb threatening emergencies. This will also reduce waiting times in the EC.
Patients with non-urgent and non-life threatening injuries or illnesses should visit their local Primary Health Care (PHC), where they can be assisted much quicker, making more efficient use of the system.
The hospital thanks the public for their patience during the construction phase and urges them to use the correct facility for injuries or illnesses. Contact George Hospital on 044 874 5122.
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
