
Category: News


GP National Consultative Workshop

OHSC Engages in Collaborative Skills Development Session with HWSETA
Dr Mathabo Mathebula, Chief Operations Officer of the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC), has been invited to participate in a significant dialogue hosted by the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA). This discussion will enable the OHSC to share its expertise on the National Health Care Norms and Standards, aiming to enhance the quality of healthcare delivery across the sector.
Established under the National Health Act of 2013, the OHSC serves as an independent health regulator responsible for overseeing a wide range of health establishments in South Africa, from large hospitals and clinics to independent healthcare practices.
Key areas of discussion will include:
– Identifying Skills Needs: Assess the current skills landscape within the health sector to equip professionals to meet healthcare norms and standards better.
Support Mechanisms: Determining the necessary support to address existing skills gaps and needs and ensuring compliance with healthcare norms.
– Partnership Opportunities: Exploring potential collaborations to research and develop essential skills required for the health sector to meet the healthcare standards successfully.
For further details, please contact:
Ricardo Mahlakanya – Director: Communication and Stakeholder Relations
066 473 8666 / rmahlakanya@ohsc.org.za

Highlights: Office of Health Standards Compliance 2023/24 Annual Performance Report
For Immediate Release
24 October 2024
Highlights: Office of Health Standards Compliance 2023/24 Annual Performance Report Pretoria – The Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) presented its Annual Performance Report for the 2023/24 financial year to the Health Portfolio Committee. This report highlights the progress in implementing the entity’s Annual Performance Plan for 2023/24, based on the OHSC’s Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. The report allows the OHSC to evaluate its successes and areas for improvement. The OHSC is an independent health regulator established under the National Health Act of 2013. Its purpose is to oversee health establishments in South Africa, ranging from major hospitals and clinics to independent practices of doctors and other health professionals providing safe and quality healthcare services.
Compliance Inspection Analysis
As the regulatory body for health services, the OHSC protects and promotes health service users’ health and safety by conducting routine and additional inspections to assess whether various healthcare establishments comply with norms and, standards regulations. In this reporting period, the OHSC conducted 734 routine inspections at public health establishments and 60 at private acute establishments. Health establishments that achieved compliance status post-inspection were issued certificates of compliance, while those that were non-compliant received compliance notices outlining the necessary steps and timeframes for improvements. The OHSC’s role in ensuring safe and quality health services provisioning by health establishments contributes significantly to implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI). Obtaining an OHSC certificate of compliance is a prerequisite for health establishments to receive accreditation and contract with the NHI Fund.
Certification and Enforcement Analysis
The OHSC implemented several enforcement interventions in response to non-compliant health establishments. The OHSC registered a significant increase in the certification rate during the reporting period compared to the previous financial years. During this review period, 618 certificates of compliance were issued to health establishments that met the norms and standards regulations: 501 from routine inspections and 117 from re-inspections. The Certificate of Compliance is valid forfour years and must be renewed. According to Regulation 19, health establishments must apply to the OHSC to renew their compliance certificates no more than six months before the certificate expires.
Enforcement actions were taken against establishments that remained consistently non-compliant after re-inspection. As a result, 45 establishments received written warnings. A written warning is an enforcement action issued by the OHSC under Regulation 23 to individuals in charge for failing to address breaches of the norms and standards specified in the Compliance Notice issued by an OHSC inspector.
To strengthen the enforcement of the OHSC’s policy, the Office has introduced a pre-enforcement consultation process. This includes meetings with district health authorities and CEOs of public and private hospitals scheduled for re-inspections after non-compliance. Health establishments must present their remedial measures, discuss challenges to compliance, and share their readiness for re-inspection
Monitoring of Prescribed Norms and Standards
The OHSC’s core function as a healthcare regulator is rooted in the norms and standards for the national health system established by the Minister of Health. The OHSC continuously develops inspection tools for various levels of care based on these regulations through a consultative process involving relevant stakeholders. During this reporting period, the OHSC finalised inspection tools for central and provincial tertiary hospitals, piloted with inputs from health establishments before finalisation. Additionally, annual updates for inspection tools for clinics, community health centers, district hospitals, regional hospitals, and private acute hospitals have been completed. To further enhance quality and safety in the healthcare sector, the OHSC issued three recommendation reports during this period. The reports issued include the National Early Warning System, National Annual Returns recommendations, and others addressing identified gaps in the Eastern Cape province with suggestions for improvement.
Overall Annual Performance Analysis
The OHSC achieved an overall performance rating of 69.6% and received an unqualified audit outcome from the Auditor-General of South Africa. This positive audit opinion was made possible by ongoing improvements in internal controls, the institutionalization of good governance, policy reviews, and continuous monitoring of implementation. Total revenue increased by 2%, from R160,847,649 in 2022/23 to R164,449,593 in 2023/24. Meanwhile, total expenditure decreased from R187,212,951 in 2022/23 to R183,892,113 in 2023/24—a 2% reduction. Of the total expenditure, 58% was allocated to core functions, while support functions accounted for 42%. The entity maintained a vacancy rate of 4.55%, equating to six vacancies out of 132 funded positions. Ends.

Guidance and Support Training Workshops on Central and Tertiary Hospital Inspection Tools

The OHSC and Health Ombud presents their 2023/24 Annual Performance Reports to the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Health
The OHSC Executive Management Team and the Health Ombud, Prof Taole Mokoena, led by the Board Chairperson, Dr Ernest Kenoshi, will brief the Health Portfolio Committee this afternoon on the 2023/24 Annual Performance Report.

Highlights of the OHSC 2023/24 Annual Report
OHSC Tables its 2023/24 Annual Report the Health Portfolio Committee
The Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) has finalised its 2023/24 Annual Report, which details the progress in implementing its Annual Performance Plan (APP). The OHSC is an independent health regulator created under the National Health Act of 2013 to ensure health establishments in South Africa – from major hospitals to clinics, the independent practices of doctors and other health professionals who provide healthcare services.
The 2023–2024 fiscal year heralds a new era for the OHSC as the entity reflects on its achievements and challenges from previous years. The entity continued to enhance its strategic objectives as outlined in the 2020 – 2025 Strategic Plan – our journey over the past four years. Despite facing challenges, the health regulator has achieved 69.6% (16) of the 23 planned APP output indicator targets, while 30.4% (7) have not been achieved. Of the achieved indicators, 62.5% (10 out of 16) were attributed to core programmes, while 37.5% (6 out of 16) were attributed to support programmes.
As a healthcare quality assurance regulator, the functioning of the OHSC is mainly influenced by the norms and standards prescribed by the Minister of Health. The OHSC continuously develops inspection tools for various levels of care through a consultative process involving relevant stakeholders. During the reporting period, the OHSC has finalised inspection tools for central and provincial tertiary hospitals. The inspection tools for central and provincial tertiary hospitals were piloted, and inputs from health establishments were considered before finalisation. In addition, annual updates for the clinic, community health centre, district, regional, and private acute hospital inspection tools have been finalised.
As part of monitoring compliance with the prescribed regulations, the OHSC is responsible for conducted routine and additional inspections in different categories of health establishments, both in the public and private health sectors. During the reporting period, the OHSC conducted 734 routine inspections in public health establishments against a target of 689 and 60 routine inspections at private sector health establishments.
In numerous instances, Health establishments that attained compliant status with the norms and standards regulations were issued certificates of compliance, and those that gained a non-compliant status were issued compliance notices. Compliance notices were sent to all non-compliant health establishments, indicating the steps to achieve the required service standards and setting timeframes for such improvements. During the period under review, 618 health establishments were certified. Of the 618 certified health establishments, 501 were from routine inspections, while 117 were from re-inspections.
Enforcement actions were taken against health establishments that were found to be persistently non-compliant with the regulated norms and standards after a re-inspection. As part of the enforcement action, a total of 45 health establishments were issued with written warnings.
The OHSC follows legal prescripts and regulations when collecting, processing, storing, and sharing its information with other parties. Our Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) systems have been streamlined to protect information collected from electronic inspection tools, annual returns, early warning systems, and by developing self-assessment and dashboards.
In terms of complaints management, the office works with the Health Ombud, located within the OHSC, to consider, investigate, and dispose of complaints that lead to breaches of the prescribed norms and standards in a fair, economical, and expeditious manner. The complaints are risk-rated into low, medium, high, and extreme. All complaints that receive a high and extremely high-risk rating are referred for investigation.
In the financial year 2023/24, the OHO resolved 96.6% (2308/2389) of low-risk complaints within 25 working days of lodgment in the call centre and 54% (34/63) of medium-risk complaints within 30 working days through assessment and investigated a total of 44 complaints. The resolution rate of low-risk complaints was above 95% in all provinces.
During the period under review, a total of 132 posts were funded with 126 posts filled as of 31 March 2024. This equates to 95.45% of funded posts being filled. Out of the 126 posts filled, 47% (8/17) are women in Senior Management Services. Out of the the total positions, the youth is comprised of 13.5% (17/126), people living with disability is 0.8% (1/126).
The OHSC continues to raise awareness among key stakeholders on its role and powers. The organisation embarked on community campaigns in all provinces. Twenty-five (25) community stakeholder engagements were conducted to raise public awareness of the OHSC and Health Ombud’s role and powers.
General financial review
The total revenue increased by 2% from R 160,847,649 in 2022/23 to R 164,449,593 in 2023/24. The OHSC’s expenditure decreased from R 187,212,951 in 2022/23 to R 183,892,113 in 2023/24, which represented a decrease of 2%. Due to the nature of its current operations, the total expenditure for the OHSC’s core functions was 58%, and the support functions accounted for 42% of the total expenditure .
In terms of the NHI Act, all health establishments must obtain certification to participate in the NHI fund. Taking this into account, the OHSC’s scope of work is enormous and requires sufficient funding to be able to be executed efficiently. Currently, the OHSC faces human resource capacity constraints as a result of the limited funding, and this will impact the OHSC’s ability to deliver on its mandate.
Discontinued key activities/activities to be discontinued
There were no discontinued key activities in the OHSC during the year under review.
Requests for rollover of funds
During the year under review, the OHSC requested the National Treasury to retain the surplus of R29 million for the 2022/23 financial year and this was approved. The surplus was largely used to fund the employment of staff on short-term contracts to supplement the existing capacity and other operational activities.
Supply chain management
The OHSC has supply chain management policies and procedures for procurement activities in place and applies the National Treasury prescripts to ensure compliance with legislative requirements.
All concluded unsolicited bid proposals for the year under review
No unsolicited bid proposals were concluded for the year under review. Measures to prevent and detect irregular expenditures included revised and optimised procurement delegations and continuous review of SCM circulars and policies to align with new directives issued by the National Treasury. There is continuous engagement with Internal Audit, Internal Control, and risk management to identify emerging risks.
Audit report matters in the previous year and how they would be addressed
The OHSC has implemented a tracking register of all internal and external audit findings to monitor the implementation of recommendations made by the auditors. Progress on implementing action plans is reported to the Audit, Risk, and Finance (ARF) Committee and Board quarterly.
Challenges experienced and how they will be resolved
Despite limited financial and human resources, the OHSC continues to strive to fulfill its legal mandate. The limited number of permanent funded posts in the structure continues to humper the operations. These limitations compromised the OHSC’s ability to expand inspections and development of more inspection tools. As a result, the OHSC had to appoint contract workers to assist with the workload.

The Office of Health Standards Compliance pays tribute to nurses on International Nurses’ Day 2024
Pretoria. As the global health community and the world at large commemorate International Nurses Day, the Office of the Health Standard Compliance (OHSC), the regulator of healthcare services, joins in recognising and acknowledging the commitment and dedication of all nurses. This year’s International Nurses’ Day is celebrated under the theme “Our Nurses, Our Future. The Economic Power of Care”, as set by the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The Council set out the economic power of care, which creates healthy people and societies and drives healthy economies. Nurses are critical stakeholders of the OHSC; the entity shares the fraternity’s belief that investing in people leads to a healthy workplace, communities, and economies, all promoting economic and health security.
Nurses play a crucial role in creating a safe and healthy healthcare environment. With this considered, the OHSC will continue to work with nurses and other health professionals to ensure quality and safety in healthcare across all health sectors.
“Today, we celebrate our nurses for the invaluable role they play in improving the lives of our communities and their incredible power of care that heals our families; our nurses remain at the forefront when it comes to diagnosing and treating the numerous ailments that our communities encounter,” stated Dr Siphiwe Mndaweni, OHSC Chief Executive Officer, in observance of this day. As the regulator of the healthcare sector, the OHSC appreciates and thanks all the nurses for their resilience and compassion in health sectors.
ENDS.
Issued by the Office of Health Standards Compliance.
For media inquiries, please contact Mr. Ricardo Mahlakanya on 066 473 8666.
Media Statement International Nurses Day 2024

The Health Ombud releases findings of the investigation into the allegations of a patient denied provision of care at the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic
The Health Ombud Professor Taole Mokoena released the findings of the investigation into the allegations of a patient denied the provision of care at the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic in the Eastern Cape Province who later died at the Motherwell Police Station Community Service Centre (MPSCSC).
The investigation report issued is in terms of the National Health Amendment Act (NHAA), 12 of 2013, in conjunction with the Procedural Regulations pertaining to the functioning of the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) and handling of complaints by the Ombud to inform the complainant and the health establishment on his/her findings and recommendations. The Office of the Health Ombud (OHO) conducts its investigations in terms of Section 81A (1) of the National Health Amendment Act (NHAA), which gives the Ombud the powers to consider, investigate and dispose of the complaint relating to breaches of the prescribed norms and standards in a fair, economical, and expeditious manner; and in terms of Regulation 42 of the Procedural Regulations, which regulates the powers conferred upon the Ombud.
The report communicates the findings and recommendations by the Ombud, following a complaint lodged by the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Shadow Minister of Health, the Honourable Michéle Clarke, MP, in September 2022 against the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic. Honourable Clarke alleged that the clinic denied the provision of care, resulting in the death of the patient, Ms Zenizole Vena. The complaint was referred further by the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, MP in October 2022. In the referral, the Minister requested the Ombud to investigate potential negligence and suboptimal care at the clinic.
Primarily, Honourable Clarke, alleged that the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic failed to assist Ms Vena, a 15-year-old who went to the clinic accompanied by an elderly woman seeking healthcare after being sexually assaulted. Ms Vena was instead turned away by healthcare workers at the clinic and later died at the Motherwell Police Station Community Service Centre (MPSCSC) where she sought assistance.
The Health Ombud deployed a team of two Investigators in terms of Section 81(3)(c) of the NHAA to investigate the complaint. Upon analysis of the complaint and allegations, the investigators identified the following issues, to form the basis of the investigation:
a)Whether Ms Vena (the patient) was denied provision of care at the clinic.
b)Whether Motherwell NU 11 Clinic failed to refer Ms Vena to the next level of care.
c)Whether the death of Ms Vena was due to negligence of the healthcare workers at the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic.
The investigation was conducted through analysis and triangulation of information and documentary evidence received from the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic, the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health (ECDoH), the Nelson Mandela Bay District Health (NMBDH), onsite visits, interviews with relevant personnel at the affected institutions, and the application of the relevant legislation to enable the Ombud to decide on the resolution of the complaint.
FINDINGS
The investigation sought to establish, and made the following findings:
a)Whether Ms Vena (patient) was denied provision of care at the Clinic
The allegation that Ms Z Vena was denied provision of care at Motherwell NU 11 Clinic was substantiated and confirmed based on the information gathered during the investigation.
The healthcare workers who attended to Ms Vena at the clinic did not touch nor examine her with the belief that every sexual assault case should be referred to the South African Police Services (SAPS). She was instead instructed to go to the Motherwell Police Station Community Service Centre as nurses at the clinic erroneously believed that “nurses are not allowed to touch rape victims to avoid tampering with evidence.”
Despite their belief, the two nurses did not arrange transport to take both the escort (an elderly old lady) and victim to MPSCSC nor call the police to come to Motherwell NU11 Clinic to take over the case.
One of the nurses indicated that she only took the patient’s vital health data, which was written in a personal diary but not in the approved Patient Administration Record (PAR).
b)Whether Motherwell NU 11 Clinic failed to refer Ms Vena to the next level of care The allegation that Motherwell NU 11 Clinic failed to refer Ms Vena to the next level of care was substantiated and confirmed by the investigation.
Based on the verbal and documentary evidence gathered and considered, it can be concluded that both healthcare workers concerned failed to refer Ms Vena to the next level of care needed. It was evident that she was not attended to in a manner that was consistent with the nature and severity of her health condition.
The nurses’ conduct of failing to refer Ms Z Vena to the next level of care violated the provisions of Regulation 5(1) and (2)(b) of the Norms and Standards Regulations for different categories of health establishments.
c)Whether the death of Ms Vena was due to negligence of the healthcare workers at the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic
The allegation that the death of Ms Z Vena was due to the negligence of the nurses at Motherwell NU 11 Clinic was substantiated and confirmed.
Based on the evidence obtained, it can be concluded that Ms Z Vena was not attended to in a manner that was consistent with the nature and severity of her health condition at Motherwell NU 11 Clinic.
d)The investigation further revealed additional findings, such as the failure of the Motherwell Police Station Community Service Centre to assist Ms Vena upon her arrival at the charge office. Ms Vena was told to wait, they only attended to her after she waited for 1h30 minutes. During this time, she experienced seizures and was foaming at the mouth. She was found dead laying on the floor in the charge office.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Health Ombud made 14 recommendations detailed in the report, which amongst them include:
•The District Manager of the Nelson Mandela Bay District Health should institute a disciplinary inquiry against the two health workers who attended to Ms Vena at the Motherwell NU 11 Clinic.
•Plans should be put in place such that all SAPS employees engaged with the public are trained in First Aid, or if there is an emergency, they have easy physical access to first responders 24 hours a day. This should be implemented within 12 months of the report.
A detailed report is available on the Health Ombud’s website www.healthombud.org.za. Ends.
Issued by Professor Taole Mokoena – South Africa’s Health Ombudsman
For Media Enquiries: Mr Ricardo Mahlakanya Cell: 066 473 8666

The Office Of Health Standards Compliance joins the Healthcare Community Worldwide in observing World Patient Safety Day 2023
The Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) is a statutory regulator of the healthcare sector established through the National Health Act of 2003. The Office joins the healthcare community worldwide in observing World Patient Safety Day on 17 September, a global public health day, observed under the theme: “Engaging patients for patient safety”.
World Patient Safety Day is one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global public health days observed annually on 17 September. The global campaign was established in 2019 with the objectives of increasing public awareness and engagement; enhancing global understanding of the significance of patient safety; working towards global solidarity and action by Member States to enhance patient safety; and reduce patient harm. Being the health regulator mandated to ensure quality and safety in healthcare on behalf of our health users, we persist in our efforts to ensure safety through conducting compliance inspections at health establishments to assess establishments’ compliance with the national health system norms and standards. Inspection tools have been developed to assess health establishments in different levels of care to provide safe and quality health services within the health system. The development of inspection tools is an important part of the process of OHSC in ensuring health establishments are assessed comprehensively in line with the relevant regulations. In addition to the inspection tools, a compliance status framework has been developed to ensure that the OHSC and health establishments have a common understanding of the way inspection findings are processed toward the compliance decision. A certificate of compliance is issued to a compliant health establishment and a notice of compliance to a non-compliant health establishment.
As an institution, we continue to closely monitor indicators of risk to identify serious breaches of norms and standards through the Early Warning System (EWS). Information collected guides the authorities to address challenges that may result in serious harm to users. The EWS recommendations report outlines the trends in breaches of norms and standards, as they relate to patient safety and overall health system weaknesses and provides explicit recommendations to address these weaknesses.
Furthermore, the OHSC works closely with the Office of the Health Ombud (OHO) mandated to protect and promote the health and safety of healthcare users by considering, investigating, and disposing of complaints in the national health system. These complaints relate to non-compliance with prescribed norms and standards. The OHSC and OHO urge healthcare users and the public to report any poor quality of healthcare received from both public and private facilities to the Office of the Health Ombud through our Toll-Free Call Centre number at 080 911 6472 or email complaints@ohsc.org.za
Click on the links below to view messages by the Acting CEO, Professor Lilian Dudley, and the Health Ombud, Professor Taole Mokoena
Professor Lilian Dudley message
Professor Taole Mokoena message
Issued by the Office of Health Standards Compliance.
For Media Enquiries Contact: Ricardo Mahlakanya – Senior Manager: Communication Services and Spokesperson 066 473 8666 / rmahlakanya@ohsc.org.za