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The City of Cape Town’s new Pelican Park clinic is on track to open its doors to the public in early 2019.

The R46 million project (pictured) is one of the biggest ever undertaken by City Health and the facility will provide a full basket of services to residents of Pelican Park, Lotus River and surrounds once it is operational.

In addition, extensions and upgrades to several other clinics have been completed or are being finalised to accommodate the provision of TB and anti-retroviral treatment programmes. Work on an upgrade of nearly R6 million has already been completed at the Elsies River clinic, while work on similar projects at Sarepta and Masincedane clinics is progressing well.

Looking ahead to the new financial year, consultants are finalising the design of the new Fisantekraal clinic.

City Health’s draft budget for 2018/19 includes:

• R31 million for the completion of the Pelican Park and Fisantekraal clinics
• R6,3 million to expand Uitsig clinic and accommodate TB and anti-retroviral treatment programme

‘The construction of new facilities is but one aspect of our plans to improve the client experience at our clinics. We’re also working on the creation of an electronic booking system to reduce waiting times. The appointment system will be up and running by the end of the year and will make for a far more professional and pleasant experience.

‘The same modernization process will also allow us to move to an electronic patient record system. Clients will benefit because the waiting period for their folders will be all but eliminated, and they will also be able to visit any clinic in the city as their records will be available immediately,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security; and Social Services, Alderman JP Smith.

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Other priorities that have been set down in the draft budget include an additional R32 million operating budget to implement chronic care and child health programmes, as well as increased funding for drug treatment programmes and facilities. The increased package of services will in turn improve the chances of more clinics attaining ‘Ideal Clinic’ status. In terms of the Ideal Clinic standards, the City is striving to improve infrastructure, provide adequate staff, adequate medicine and supplies, good administrative processes, and sufficient adequate bulk supplies. Such a facility uses applicable clinical policies, protocols and guidelines, and it harnesses partner and stakeholder support. In one year, City Health increased its tally of Ideal Clinics from three to 42.

‘We are committed to changing perceptions around public health by providing the best possible services to clients and by constantly re-evaluating how we can improve. We live in an age of convenience and so we need to keep pace. More than that, the less time clients spend waiting for services, the more time they have to be active in the economy or other areas of life. So if it is within our control to improve their quality of life, then we need do make sure that we follow through,’ added Alderman Smith.

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