Waiting times worsen at Helen Joseph Hospital 

6 October 2016

Waiting times for patients have worsened at the Helen Joseph Hospital, where patients can expect to wait more than two-and-a-half hours at the outpatients department.

This information was revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Mahlangu, patients this year will wait 153 minutes on average at the outpatients department, compared to 121 minutes last year.

Patients will wait 124 minutes at casualty compared to 100 minutes last year, and 70 minutes at the pharmacy, up from 52 minutes last year.

Mahlangu says that steps to reduce waiting times include the appointment of Queue Marshals, the installation of a queue management system and the piloting of pharmacy dispensing machines.

I am disappointed that waiting times have increased at the hospital but I have seen for myself the new automated dispensing machines that will hopefully cut waiting times at the pharmacy.

The hospital is close to fully staffed but is often over-crowded, as there is on average a 91% bed occupancy rate.

Expansion of the hospital should be considered to better serve the high number of patients.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 6 October 2016