Negligent Care Intercare Hazeldean Sub-acute

Intercare Hazeldean Sub-acute Hospital.

Absolutely negligent, sub-standard and disgusting management by staff. My mother had the misfortune of being sent here for neuro-rehabilitation after she complicated during neurosurgery with a right hemiplegia. She had no power on the right side of her body and had an expressive aphasia - this required maximal assistance with activities of daily living and making her a high fall risk.

On 2 occasions (that we know of), she was left unsupervised and unrestrained by nursing staff in her wheelchair resulting in her falling and lying on the ground for an unknown period of time. Furthermore: She was left in dirty nappies for hours on end. She was only changed when requested by family members multiple times, and then done so begrudgingly. She was left in dirty clothes and food stained linen for days. We were told her hair would only get washed on Saturdays despite it being very obviously dirty and tangled. Even then, it wasn't cleaned every Saturday. Wound dressings on her right food were left unchanged for more than 5 days. She was not being mobilized by nursing staff during the days or weekends as per basic stroke protocol. She was left in her bed, on her back, for hours on end and only mobilized when family or physiotherapy came to see her. There however, seemed to be endless time for conversation and socializing at the nursing station.

To this day we have had no feedback from any doctor at the facility regarding her physical health or progress despite promises from the matron and clinical manager. Who knows if a doctor was actually seeing her?

Following her second fall, nursing and management completely avoided us and refused to communicate or rectify what had happened. We managed to move her to another facility with the aid of her neurosurgeon and improvement in level of care has been dramatic. They also identified she was infected with a multi-drug resistant bacteria which is likely the result of poor hygiene practises from health care staff - this was completely missed at Intercare.

A complaint has been laid with the Hospital association of South Africa (HASA). Coming from a medical background, I am of the opinion that this facility should not be accredited to manage stroke patients and would not recommend it to anyone.