National Budget Cuts prompt innovative response from Western Cape Health Department
The Western Cape Department of Health is committed to providing quality, safe, person centred, and affordable healthcare to the people of the Western Cape, despite forthcoming cuts to provincial budgets by national government.
The department has devised innovative ways to cope with the impact of these cuts, which will affect all provinces.
We have decentralized decision-making on budgets to the managers of each healthcare institution. This empowers healthcare professionals to make decisions about the priorities of their facility, and to determine budgets for new staff appointments according to their unique needs.
Each institution in the Western Cape functions as a decentralized business unit, operating within its designated budget and with its own controls and accountability mechanisms. This process is not a top-down process, but a transparent and decentralized engagement with parties to determine the best way forward for the sake of the majority of patients served by that institution.
In prioritizing healthcare allocations, the department applies the utilitarian approach. This means that decisions are guided by the philosophy of providing the best value to all citizens of the Western Cape, with the greatest positive impact on public health.
“I was once a community activist fighting with communities for access to better healthcare service. I fought for policy and the implementation of crucial programmes that would better the lives of all South Africans. Now as the Minister of Health in the Western Cape, I am more committed than ever to ensuring access to quality public healthcare, especially in these difficult financial times, ” said Minister Nomafrench Mbombo.
In the current fiscal climate, we will all need to do significantly more with significantly less, not only in the Department of Health but across government.
The existing budgetary pressures compounded by growing patient numbers – which are expected to rise by 3, 3% until 2017/18 – will place further strain on hard working staff throughout the province.
The department has various internal projects in place to support frontline staff and increase their resilience to deliver services to the public.
Providing quality healthcare to a growing number of patients in the current fiscal environment is a challenge which the Western Cape Department of Health is up for. However, we cannot do this alone. We run extensive programmes to advise citizens on healthy lifestyle practices so that we can reduce the burden of preventable diseases on the healthcare system. Preventing these lifestyle diseases requires the commitment of all citizens to their own wellness.
In the coming year, each of us in government, public health facilities and in communities will have to do our part in ensuring equitable access to quality public health care.
Enquiries:
Luyanda Mfeka
Spokesperson to the Western Cape Minister of Health, Dr Nomafrench Mbombo
Cell: 079 546 9518
Tel: 021 483 5862
Email: luyanda.mfeka@westerncape.gov.za
