Question NW257 to the Minister of Health

Reply:

a) According to the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health, (a) the number of vacant funded posts as at 25 February 2021 is 544 posts. The breakdown is as follows:

Row Labels	Number of Posts
Administration Staff	34
Allied Professionals	79
Allied Support Staff	6
Clinical Professionals	119
Management Professionals	1
Nursing Professionals	238
Support Staff	67
Grand Total	544

The process of replacing vacated posts is a decentralised function and the Hospital Management ensures that vacated posts are filled continuously on a monthly basis with priority given to core functions (i.e. health professions categories).

(b) Some of the reasons that the Hospital has struggled with to fill the specified vacancies include but not limited to a recurring challenge of limited skills of Specialised Nurses Categories in the Country (limited resources available). The recruitment of Clinicians is also a challenge as some of the candidates prefer to work in other Academic and Tertiary Institutions like Steve Biko Academic Hospital and Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital lose out because of their geographic area. The Hospital is also affected by the budget reductions under Cost of Employer (COE) experienced in the public health sector and the filing of most or all the 544 posts will result in over-expenditure.

(c) To mitigate this challenge, management appoints experienced Professional Nurses in those speciality areas who are capable of dealing with work demands. Continuous support is given to these nurses through training programmes and supervision. The Hospital has further put in place mechanisms to minimise the impact of vacant posts on service delivery through task sharing, overtime and rotation of staff.

END.