Joburg lags in hospital rankings

Durban has six out of the top 20 private hospitals out of 140 private hospitals rated in a patient survey‚ released on Monday. Cape Town has the second highest number of these hospitals with three.

Joburg‚ Pretoria and other major cities like Nelspruit and East London only have one which have made this patient-care survey.

The quality of nursing care‚ doctor care‚ the hospital environment‚ pain management‚ and patient information about medication and discharge are the six major categories measured in the annual survey.

The Discovery Health 2017 patient survey does not reveal which hospitals scored the highest overall but lists the top 20.

Overall patient experience has improved year on year the survey‚ in its fourth year‚ shows.

The Life Healthcare group has the most hospitals in the top 20 in this survey.

Doctors’ communication and management of pain are the categories that consistently scored highest.

Communication with nurses and information about medication showed good improvements‚ but the planning for discharge could be better.

“Patients who are prepared well for discharge have better health outcomes‚ and are at lower risk of repeat admissions‚" said Roshini Moodley Naidoo‚ head of quality of care at Discovery Health.

She said that measuring adult patient experience‚ and publicly reporting on it year on year‚ allowed them to track improvement strategies implemented by hospital management after the previous year’s survey.

“Making a patient’s experience of care visible... highlights opportunities to close certain gaps in how care is experienced by patients and families‚” said Naidoo.

A low patient experience score does not mean "a hospital does not deliver high quality care"‚ Naidoo noted‚ but it showed room for improvement.

Some two million out of 8.9 million medical aid members in South Africa belong to Discovery Health.

The top 20 hospitals listed alphabetically are:

Ahmed Al-Kadi Private Hospital‚ Durban

Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre‚ Durban

Gateway Private Hospital‚ Umhlanga

Hillcrest Private Hospital‚ Durban

Life Bay View Private Hospital‚ Mossel Bay

Life Carstenhof Hospital‚ Johannesburg

Life Chatsmed Garden Hospital‚ Chatsworth‚ Durban

Life Mount Edgecombe Hospital‚ Durban

Life Roseacres Hospital‚ Germiston

Life St Dominics Hospital‚ East London

Life Suikerbosrand Hospital‚ Heidelberg

Life West Coast Private Hospital‚ Vredenburg

Lowveld Hospital‚ Nelspruit

Mediclinic Milnerton‚ Cape Town

Mediclinic Panorama‚ Cape Town

Mediclinic Victoria‚ Tongaat

N1 City Hospital‚ Cape Town

Nu-Shifa Hospital‚ Durban

Wilmed Park Private Hospital‚ Klerksdorp

Zuid-Afrikaans Hospital‚ Pretoria.