MEDICAl Investments Limited’s (MIL) flagship company, The Avenues Clinic says it is going through a restructuring exercise which has largely been driven by reduced operational capacity and some inefficiencies currently being experienced in certain departments.
By Michael Gwarisa
The exercise will likely see 13 of its employees being laid-off while the leadership of the organisation is finalising the process so as to ensure a smooth transition to the revised work structures.
In an interview with HealthTimes, MIL Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Searchmore Chaparadza indicated that there has been a reduction in patients numbers over the past 12 months and the COVID-19 had worsened the situation.
It is a reality that the hospital has experienced a reduced operational capacity for a period of time, which has forced us to consider realigning structures for operational efficiencies,” said Mr Chaparadza.
He alluded to the changes in the economic environment, which he said markedly showed from October 2018 and saw patient numbers being reduced. The reduction was further worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, which reduced traffic to healthcare centres, generally.
He further added that the reduced operations pre-Covid-19 were mainly attributable to reduced incomes as the economy was adjusting, and this also significantly affected local medical aid benefits which saw patients having to pay for their medical bills out of pocket.
He also said, the health facility like any other hospital, operational, costs of keeping staff, patients and visitors safe to fight the Covid-19 pandemic have created additional headwinds for the organisation.
“While we would like to realign numbers, we still need to endure that key service points are not affected, and you will notice that areas like Nursing were not affected. If anything, some of the bed-side nursing areas need to be beefed up to ensure service delivery is not compromised, and cover for previous staff attrition”, Chaparadza said.
In a recent townhall discussion with employees, Mr Chaparadza highlighted that some of the positions in the organisation had been identified for retrenchment in order to align the staff numbers to patient volumes, whose low trend has emerged for a long time now.
He said this was a well-considered process as it focused on where excess numbers were identified and the organisation could do with either fewer numbers or alternative skills sets. Resultantly, key bed-side nursing staff were not part of the redundant positions identified.
To date several positions have been identified for possible retrenchment, and intention to do so has already been communicated to the affected employees, but the hospital is yet to finalise the process.
Mr Chaparadza indicated that there are engagements with the 13 members of staff who are from various departments that include Services, Pharmacy, Kitchen and Security.
“It is important to note that the exercise to streamline is a last option in a long line of other initiatives, some of which have since been adopted in an effort to improve operations.”
Meanwhile, The Avenues Clinic management indicated that management has always been in communication with staff through townhall meetings to ensure internal alignment on the organisation’s direction and it is sad to let go some team members. As the process continues, he has emphasised the need to treat all people affected and those remaining with dignity, as this is a sensitive process.
Mr Chaparadza bemoaned the challenges faced by the health sector, especially skills flight at such a crucial time that the sector is dealing with a global pandemic Covid-19. He added that though The Avenues Clinic has over the past months lost several skilled nurses to the same fate, the impact has been made better by the fact that the hospital runs a School of Nursing for Post Basic nursing and can easily access skill from the school.
