With the upcoming fire season the Western Cape government said it was raising the importance of strengthening burns care and doing what it can to ensure the province’s health system is adequately prepared to respond to burn-related injuries. This week the government said it was preparing its health system before any increase in fires and burn injuries.
The Department of Health and Wellness is also strengthening specialised services and ensuring that appropriate care is available closer to communities, the province said.
The Western Cape currently has two dedicated specialised burns services: the 18-bed paediatric C2 Burns Unit at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the adult burns service at Tygerberg Hospital, comprising 20 low-care and six high-care/critical-care beds.
During the 2025-’26 financial year these services managed 606 paediatric patients at Red Cross and 220 adult patients through Tygerberg Hospital.
Bringing care closer to communities
The department was also looking beyond the traditional model of concentrating all burns care in specialised centres. In partnership with The Children’s Trust it is providing specialised equipment and targeted training at Ceres Hospital and Worcester Hospital to strengthen their ability to manage appropriate paediatric burns closer to where patients live.
The approach is to decentralise what can safely be decentralised while ensuring the most serious and complex cases continue to reach specialist- and critical-care services, the province pointed out.
A broader redesign for adult burns
The department was developing a broader service redesign for adult burns care over the next 18 months. The redesign will make better use of general surgical and critical care capacity across the province while concentrating highly complex burns at Tygerberg Hospital.
Anticipating pressure before it arrives
“This approach demonstrates that good governance is about anticipating pressure, planning for it and building capacity before communities need it,” said Memory Booysen, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Wellness. “We welcome this strategic approach and will continue to support efforts that make health care more accessible, resilient and responsive, particularly as the Western Cape enters a period where the risk of fires and serious burn injuries increases.”
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