List Of Services

Out patient services
Pharmacy
Radiology
Laboratory
Dialysis
Internal Medicine
Peadiatric
Surgical
Obstetrica and Gynaecology
General Practice
Health Screening

SUMMARY OF FACILITIES AND SERVICES

OUT-PATIENTS DEPARTMENT (OPD)

A matron with over 24 years experience in the Nursing profession supervises this unit. This unit has a trough put of up to 20 000 patient episodes a year. There is an Accident and Emergency room in the department that is used for the initial assessment and immediate resuscitation of the critically ill or injured patient. It is equipped with the appropriate resuscitative equipment.

HIGH DEPENDENCY UNIT (H.D.U.)

This unit is staffed by very highly trained Nursing Personnel with long-term experience in the management of the critically ill patient. All H.D.U. staff are trained in basic and advanced life support techniques and have regular tutorials in Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as do all our medical staff. The unit is also used for the post operative care of patients following major surgery. It is equipped with monitoring aids for continuous accurate assessments of the clinical state of the patient like; pulse oximeters, cardiac monitors, blood gas analyser etc.
There are also facilities for short or long term ventilation of adult, paediatric and neonatal patients. Pre-term or severly ill babies are nursed in one of our 4 incubators.
The unit constitutes an important part of the Saint Nicholas Hospital Emergency services and we are thus well equipped to manage multiple trauma cases such as gunshot wounds and road traffic accidents. The existence of this unit has markedly improved the survival rate of severely injured patients and the unit is often used as a referral centre for other medical institutions around the country and for stabilisation of patients before medical evacuation.

THEARTRE/DELIVERY ROOM COMPLEX

The personnel in this unit have vast experience in the performing the duties required to run a modern theatre and delivery room. The unit is equipped to cope with a large number of major surgical procedures. Specialised surgical facilities include: Gastroscopy, Cystoscopy, Laparoscopy, Renal Transplant, Transurethral Resection of the Prostate, Urinary bladder tumours and internal optical urethrotomy.

The delivery suite is equipped with 2 delivery beds, cardiotocography machines for monitoring foetal heart rate and uterine contractions before and during labour and a modern resuscitation machine to cope with any babies born in a distressed state.
The unit offers labouring mothers a wide range of pain relief options including Epidural Anaesthesia, inhalation analgesia in the form of Entonox and provides 24-hour consultant cover to supervise all normal deliveries and deal with emergency situations if they arise.

RADIOLOGY DEPARTMENET

This unit is open 24 hours a day. It is equipped with 2 X-ray machines one of which is an ultra-modern remote controlled unit recently purchased to enable us perform specialised radiological investigations. We also have a helical General Elcetric CT scan machine with equipment for performing contrast vascular studies and an attached laser camera.

The department has 2 real-time ultrasound scanning machines. With our newest machine we are able to perform colour and “power-flow” Doppler investigations as well as 3 dimensional imaging. The machines are equipped with probes for examining all parts of the body. Hard copy photographs and video recordings are available from all ultrasound-scanning machines.

DIALYSIS UNIT

This unit, established recently, is one of the best-equipped dialysis units in the country and is currently a reference point for other dialysis units. With a consultant Nephrologist in house supervising the care of all patients admitted into the unit. The head nurse in charge of the unit has considerable experience totalling 16 years from the teaching hospital along with other highly trained nurses. The unit is equipped with 10 haemodialysis machines and an ultramoredern water treatment unit.

The unit as a policy encourages our ESRF patients to have a renal transplant as soon as a suitable donor can be identified. This is done either in our hospital or the patient is reffered to a unit of their choice.

THE LABORATORY

The laboratory is open 24 hours a day and provides an extensive range of haematological, biochemical, bacteriological and parasitological investigations. There is a blood bank in the unit and all blood for transfusion is screened for both hepatitis B and C and “double screened” for Human Immune-deficiency virus infection, malaria parasiteamia and syphillis before leaving the department.

THE PHARMACY

This department is open 24 hours a day and provides drugs that meet stringent international standards. It supplies both in-patients’ and out-patients’ departments and is staffed by 6 Pharmacists and 2 Pharmacy Technicians.

AMBULANCE SERVICE

This service, which constitutes part of the Saint Nicholas Hospital Emergency Services Unit, is outsourced to a repuable firm affiliated with South Africa called Critical Rescue International (CRI) available on a 24-hour basis both for collection and transfer of patients.

IN-PATIENTS

There are 48 beds on three floors. These are accommodated in single rooms, double rooms and general wards. There is also a nursery for the newborn that is equipped with incubators for premature infants and two phototherapy units for the management of babies with neonatal jaundice. The principal nursing staff manning the unit are dedicated and highly experienced in looking after premature babies.

KITCHEN

The hospital kitchen that has recently undergone refurbishment and equipping with modern equipment is run by an experienced chef assisted by two caterers and cooks. It provides 4 meals a day to the in-patients.

ADMINISTRATION AND ANCILLIARIES

Administration is headed by the Medical Director assisted by an advisory board and management committee comprising of the Matron, her two deputies, the consultant staff and the general manager. Other heads of departments are called into meetings as and when necessary.

The support structure of the hospital is made up of the Accounts department, purchasing department, Stores, Transport, Maintenance, Catering, Laundry, Communications, Cleaning and Security.

THE FUTURE

The provision of sound, quality service within the hospital over the past 30 years has created a solid foundation on which new projects can grow and it is our intention to continually modernise, refurbish and develop all aspects of Saint Nicholas Hospital.