Gauteng faces ICU nursing staff shortages

THE Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) has come under fire following revelations that the province's public hospitals have only 751 ICU nurses, less than half of the 1 760 needed to adequately serve its population.

- MASABATA MKWANANZI [e-mail]

The crisis was laid bare in a written response by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko to the Democratic Alliance (DA) inquiry in the Provincial Legislature, where she confirmed the province is operating with less than half the ICU nurses it needs. This is according to the DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, Jack Bloom.

Bloom said Nkomo-Ralehoko raised alarm over the ICU nurse shortage, citing increased patient deaths, delayed surgeries, and staff burnout. He added that the crisis is driving experienced nurses away and deterring new ones, putting patient safety at serious risk.

“Increased patient mortality, decreased quality of care, increased workload and burnout, delayed or can-celled procedures/surgeries, increased length of stay, negative patient experience of care, increased healthcare costs from overtime and temporary staffing, persistent shortages can discourage potential nurses from pursuing ICU careers and lead to experienced ICU nurses leaving the profession, and insufficient staffing can undermine patient safety initiatives, such as infection prevention and control and medication safety programmes”