“When we go talk about the budget of Parliament, we talk with people who do not understand Parliament. We talk to directors-general who think we are just another department.”
National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise did not mince her words. Perhaps it was time for Parliament to say to those who think they hold the purse strings that, “until you listen to us, we will not pass your budget”. That is one of Parliament’s hard-fought-for powers, which to date the national legislature has not exercised.
“It [Parliament] holds the purse because it directly represents the people in the streets.”
Parliament’s budget is just over R2.6-billion. That’s a cut of R256-million from the previous year, with further cuts of R338-million planned for the 2022/23 financial year and R296-million in the 2023/24 financial year.
The Lancet medical journal suggests that employing more nurses can result in cost savings double the cost of employing the additional nurses. The study was conducted in Australia but may well have important implications for nursing in South Africa.
The study, conducted across 55 hospitals in Queensland, suggests that a recent state policy to introduce a minimum ratio of one nurse to four patients for day shifts has successfully improved patient care, with a 7% drop in the chance of death and readmission, and 3% reduction in length of stay for every one less patient a nurse has on their workload.
It is these reductions in readmissions and length of hospital stays that resulted in the cost savings.
A study conducted across 55 hospitals in Queensland suggests that a recent state policy to introduce a minimum ratio of one nurse to four patients for day shifts has successfully improved patient care, with a 7% drop in the chance of death and readmission and a 3% reduction in length of stay for every one less patient a nurse has on their workload. These reductions resulted in the cost savings.
The study compared 27 hospitals where the policy was implemented with 28 hospitals where it wasn’t.
“Despite some evidence that more nurses in hospitals could benefit patient safety, similar policies have not been widely implemented across the globe, partly due to an absence of data on the long-term effects and costs, as well as limited resources,” the study authors said.