The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness and City of Cape Town (CoCT) have appointed a senior technical commissioning team who are working closely to ensure the steady service expansion and smooth handover over of the Saxon Sea and Protea Park Clinics in Atlantis.
Plans for the CoCT to fully handover the operations of the clinics to the provincial government are pending as the joint team continues to focus on crucial background technical and logistical work required.
This includes transferring patient appointments, conversion of health information management systems and proper equipping of both facilities for expanded service packages.
Furthermore, additional staff recruitment is underway and future organisational structures will provide opportunity for local employment. The provincial department plans for expansion of the scope of the services and are recruiting to acquire the additional skills levels needed.
Pending the full-service package being available, services rendered by CoCT staff at the Protea Park and Saxon Sea clinics will continue as is for now.
These include child health and sexual reproductive health services, basic antenatal care, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, as well as TB and HIV screening, testing and treatment. Efforts to improve healthcare services for patients in Atlantis remains a high priority the CoCT and Department said.
Additional Services offered by the Department from 1 July include:
. The chronic appointment service already operated by the Department at the Protea Park Clinic will now be extended to a full day service on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.
. Staff are now able to accommodate more eligible patients, thus reducing waiting time for integrated adult chronic care services, where conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, and antiretroviral treatment can be managed closer to where people live. Over 1 000 appointments / clients have been successfully transferred into Protea Park services since October 2022.
. The plan is to introduce optometry services to Saxon Sea and Protea Park, space permitting and by appointment.
New Recruitments for expanded future services
Further expansion of the package of care that phases in comprehensive primary health services at Protea Park and Saxon Sea is dependent on new categories of staff.
The process of recruiting staff:
. A new specialist mental health professional nurse who will permanently work between Protea Park clinic, Saxon Sea clinic and Mamre Community Day Centre (CDC). The additional support provided to the existing Mental Health nurse will boost access to mental health services for the large number of clients needing treatment, care and support for mental health conditions;
. A social worker and social worker auxiliary have already joined the team. Appointments for this new service will be booked for clients within current limits of consulting room space at Saxon Sea and Protea Park to support community needs;
. A pharmacist for Protea Park clinic once it is operating as a fully-fledged CDC. This professional will assist in developing full Pharmacy Services over the next few months and support further expansion of chronic medication delivery and distribution in Atlantis;
. A permanent Medical Officer post has been created; and
. A senior family physician, a medical specialist, shall provide oversight to improve quality clinical care.
The historic additional investment to the current team of two family physicians at Wesfleur Hospital will have specific professional focus on all three primary health care facilities and patients’ access different levels of care.
With all the above additional staff and new services, Protea Park has significantly advanced along its journey towards offering a comprehensive package of care to the broader Atlantis community.
The Department of Health encourage clients accessing services at these facilities to ask for assistance if needed and to maintain their appointment schedules as provided by the CoCT clinics and Department of Health and Wellness services.
