You say this is a ticking time bomb. What are you doing about it?
A number of things. When one of the World Health Organisation's recommendations to the health minister was that they must improve in areas of training, including specialised nursing skills, we made a big noise about it. But it appears our government is in shock and doesn't know what to do. They're cutting the budgets for health, and recently we've seen nursing listed as a critical skill.
Were you surprised it took so long?
We were thinking that the department [of health] had a plan, but we then realised they don't. Since 2020 there's been no training of specialised nursing skills. They started training recently, but the numbers are very low. They're getting desperate and are wanting to attract skills from outside. But Western countries such as the UK are vigorously recruiting from our shores, and it's making the skills shortage here even worse.
Are many of our nurses leaving?
The numbers are increasing at an alarming rate.
And these are our most skilled nurses?
Those with what we call special skills, yes.
What's the push factor?
Mainly conditions of service, because our country is not improving them [and] is not investing enough to add to their skills. Nurses are not being replaced when they die, retire or resign. The number of nurses being trained is very low, not enough to replace the skills and experience we are losing every year.
Do you have a problem with private hospitals training nurses?
The private hospitals want to train but the government is not granting approvals at a level they want to train.
You're in favour of them training as many as they can?
Yes. Unfortunately, they're not granted permission.
Who's responsible for that?
The South African Nursing Council (SANC) and the Council for Higher Education (CHE), but mainly the government.
The department of health?
In the department the SANC is the one that does the approvals. The CHE is under the department of higher education.
But the department of health is ultimately responsible for all health-care issues?
Certainly. The department of health should know the needs of the country and say, how do they add resources or assist in terms of partnerships to get this situation changed?
It says it’s not filling posts because of budgetary constraints.
That's a very lame excuse. They were supposed to have a better way of mitigating the situation. If we're hit by another health crisis [after Covid] our system will collapse completely.
Is there anything the department can do if the nursing council slashes the number of nurses private hospitals can train?
The nursing council reports to the minister.
How would you like to see the department addressing the nursing crisis?
We'd like them to prioritise it as a matter of urgency and come up with a turnaround strategy that includes collaborating with the private sector.
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