Abstract:
In 2008, the South African National Department of Health committed to improving the quality of healthcare service delivery in public healthcare institutions. The implementation of the National Core Standards for Health Establishments was one such commitment, which is now viewed as essential to the quality of care, resource management and inter-professional work. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the challenges to attain extreme measures for patient safety, clinical governance and care of the National Core Standards for the Health Establishments in a district hospital in Tshwane, Gauteng. A qualitative descriptive exploratory design was employed to conduct the study. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used for recruiting the participants, who included professional nurses working in a district hospital. The professional nurses were directly involved in the implementation of the National Core Standards. Three focus groups, using a semistructured interview guide, were conducted to collect data from the participants. The data was analysed according to Tesch’s method. An independent co-order was used to confirm the findings.
The following themes emerged: challenges to clinical governance, challenges to patient safety and challenges to patient care. It was recommended that the study be replicated, using all the nine provinces of South Africa, including other hospitals on different levels and using a well-represented racial group and males in the district hospital with different disciplines in the Gauteng Province. was to investigate whether similar findings would be achieved. A task team had to be formed, consisting of multidisciplinary team members to perform monthly audits and continuous follow-up to resolve the challenges to attain extreme measures of the National Core Standards for the Health Establishments.
