Risk assessment the Lenmed risk assessment methodology was introduced to the group in October 2018. All hospitals were trained on the methodology and comprehensive clinical risk assessments were conducted by hospital operations teams for the first time in Lenmed hospitals. Each hospital has produced its own risk register and has documented risk action plans to mitigate operational risks related to patient and employee health and safety. As a group, we will be focusing on the top risks across all hospitals and together we will collaborate to ensure that we mitigate these group risks.

Alert and incident reporting and management the development of an alert and incident reporting system has been a year in the making and we are happy to report that we are on the brink of launching this electronic online application which is going to minimize the current manual and paper-based process. As a Group it is important that we can access information to understand our alert and incident trends and minimise any harm (or potential harm) caused to our patients, employees and customers. Access to this information will allow us to determine trends and to implement appropriate preventative or corrective action. Underpinning this is incident investigation training for all our incident investigators.

Infection prevention and surveillance Lenmed has implemented an online clinical decision support system which integrates, in real time, the location, laboratory and prescribing data on all patients with possible infections. This system is called Bluebird. Bluebird assists clinicians to focus on at-risk patients and implement therapeutic interventions. Bluebird has been implemented in all Lenmed hospitals aside from BPH and MPH. Although it is early days in the implementation, we are enthused at the positive results that this system has shown already in improving patient safety, and through greater utilization of the system, we hope to better identify and manage infections and improve appropriate antimicrobial utilisation.

Gynaecologist fights to stay out of jail

News24: A gynaecologist who was sentenced to five years direct imprisonment for the death of a patient due to labour complications plans to petition the SCA to appeal his conviction and sentence after the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) confirmed the findings of the eMalahleni Regional Court. Netwerk24 reports that colleagues of Dr Danie van der Walt, from Mpumalanga, are rallying behind him, saying the ‘harsh’ sentence may be the last straw for obstetricians who claim to be under siege from civil litigation and cannot afford soaring malpractice insurance.

Van der Walt was convicted in 2016 in connection with the death of Pamela Noni Daweti. The doctor said he advised Daweti to give birth via a c-section, but her family insisted on a natural birth. Daweti suffered serious injuries during the labour process. Van der Walt was called from the hospital in the early hours of the morning, but initially gave only telephonic instructions for nursing personnel without returning to hospital.

The court held that he was grossly negligent as he should have returned to the hospital immediately for the emergency instead of hours later after a second call.

Professor Leon Snyman, of the SA Association for Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, says the verdict sends a chilling message for doctors attending to such cases. He says the insurance premium for obstetricians is R1m a year and doctors practising in this field must deliver 24 babies a month just to cover their insurance fees. "Now one of our members gets sent to prison for a basic human error."

(Legalbrief, 29/04/2019, Issue 821)

Van der Walt is thought to be the first doctor to be sentenced to direct imprisonment for negligence, the report notes. Dr Deon Kotzé was given a suspended prison sentence and community service in 2017 for causing the death under anaesthesia of two-year-old Juandré Bennett.