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HPCSA welcomes proposed health ombudsman, refutes comments on mandate

3 Dec 2010

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has welcomed the initiative by the Department of Health to establish a national health ombudsman who will ensure health standards compliance and will deal with matters of poor service in the country's hospitals. However, the council strongly refutes uninformed comments made by an association on the mandate of the HPCSA.

"The establishment of a national health ombudsman will ensure patients receive the quality healthcare they are entitled to at an institution and the HPCSA welcomes this initiative by the Department of Health," Marella O'Reilly, acting registrar and CEO said. "This initiative will effectively compliment the HPCSA's mandate to ensure the public are protected from the unprofessional or unethical conduct of healthcare professionals.

A total of 2703 legal complaints from public and practitioners were received during the 2009/10 financial year and all of these complaints relate to patient or collegial interaction with healthcare practitioners."

Statement 'grossly misleading'

The HPCSA is concerned about a grossly misleading statement issued by the Junior Doctor's Association of South Africa's (JUDASA). "We are calling on this association to make informed statements, especially when referring to our mandate."

"We strongly refute these comments, HPCSA's mandate is very clear - council regulates and guides healthcare practitioners for the protection of the public in an objective and transparent manner," O'Reilly said. "The body is not tasked with regulating government, managers and political leaders as mischievously reported by the association."

We wish to emphasise that South African healthcare professionals* rank amongst the finest in the world and Council is very proud of the high standard of quality and service provided by the vast majority of healthcare practitioners to patients.

"Part of our mandate is to regulate the standard of education received by healthcare professionals and ensure the continuing professional development of healthcare professionals who are already qualified and practising their profession. This is all to ensure that the South African public receive the best quality healthcare from these professionals," O'Reilly added.

O'Reilly concluded by saying that the Regulator remains committed to serving and protecting the public and providing guidance to registered healthcare practitioners.

*More than 180 000 healthcare practitioners are registered with the HPCSA.