launch of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) turnaround project held in East
London
19 October 2006
At the beginning of the year, the Department of Health's EMS embarked on a
Strategic Turnaround Plan that will revolutionise the methodology and
performance of the EMS in this province.
Within a three year period responses to medical emergencies in the Eastern
Cape will have undergone a remarkable change. Clients in both urban and rural
areas will be able to associate with a more efficient and effective service.
The Strategic Turnaround Plan is aimed at capacitating our human resource
landscape within this project, the emergency vehicle fleet will be increased
and the ambulance control centres will be upgraded to be able to keep track of
emergency vehicles.
The Department is committed to this turnaround plan and has committed over
R500 million in the next three years in order to be able to provide an
emergency services that will cater much more efficiently for the needs of our
people.
The Department launched a Communication and Marketing Programme earlier in
the year that promoted several messages through various newspapers and radio
stations to communities in the Eastern Cape.
A synopsis of deliverables is as follows
Change management: The purpose of change management is to facilitate the
in-house transformation of attitudes and opinions and to promote the acceptance
of new processes and systems by our staff in order to deliver a customer based
service to our people. The change management process of course is aligned to
the broader change management framework of the Department as a whole.
As part of this project, induction courses will be undertaken for all our
Emergency Medical Services personnel facilitated by our Training and
Development section.
Some of the milestones in this project include the following:
* installation of a Computerised Aided Dispatch (CAD) System in five Metro
Control Centres
* at the beginning of August, the Superintendent-General met with all the
relevant stakeholders and it was recommended that staff wellness programmes be
made available to as many officials as possible
* fleet management systems are to be fitted with Global Positioning Satellite
Tracking. It is anticipated that the amount of abuse of vehicles will decline
with the implementation of satellite tracking
* a critical component of this whole exercise is the filling of vacant
positions and striving towards reaching national targets over time. The
recruitment process was decentralised and each metro has taken responsibility
for recruitment in their respective areas. Over the next three years we are
targeting to recruit and train 6 293 officials in the different categories;
those being general personnel, management and administration and operational
staff
* on the resources side, we shall acquire, 325 ambulances, 33 patient transport
vehicles, and a further 33 rescue vehicles.
In terms of public awareness, a media strategy and roll-out plan was
developed and at the end of June, and a media breakfast briefing was arranged
to brief the media on the messages that were to be communicated and marketed to
the communities in the Eastern province. The Department has requested and still
is calling upon the media's support to strengthen the message of hope to the
public in general.
In line with the expectations and the mandate of the Department of Health's
role in the 2010 World cup, we are expected to deliver a first class health
service, especially in critical areas like EMS, patient transport and dealing
with trauma matters emanating from accidents and related issues.
At this point I need to emphasise, Programme Director that EMS is the
interface between communities and primary health care services and hospitals in
times of crisis. We are working hard to improve this service during this
financial year.
It is against this background that I am pleased to announce that here today
we are unveiling 40 new ambulances to be distributed throughout the province.
In closing I want to express my appreciation to the management and staff of the
emergency services in the efforts that have been made thus far and trust that
you will up the tempo in turning around our emergency services in the Eastern
Cape.
Thank You.
Issued by: Department of Health, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
19 October 2006
Source: Department of Health, Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecdoh.gov.za)
