The OHSC was established under the National Health Amendment Act (No. 12 of 2013), to promote and protect the health and safety of the users of health services. The OHSC is listed as a Schedule 3A public entity in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The legislative mandate of the OHSC is derived from the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 of 1996), the National Health Amendment Act (No. 12 of 2013), several pieces of legislation passed by Parliament guided by sections 9, 12 and 27 of the Constitution, regulations, and national policies.

WHO WE ARE

The OHSC is an independent body established under the National Health Amendment Act (No. 12 of 2013) to ensure quality and safety in healthcare by promoting and protecting the health and safety of users (patients) of healthcare services by:

• Monitoring and enforcing compliance of health establishments with the norms and standards prescribed by the national health system.
• Ensuring that complaints of non-compliance with prescribed norms and standards are considered, investigated, and disposed of in a procedurally fair, economical, and expeditious manner.

The term “health establishments” refers to public and private healthcare facilities that provide or are intended to provide inpatient or outpatient treatment, diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, nursing, rehabilitation, palliative, convalescent, preventive or other healthcare services. It includes hospitals and primary healthcare clinics and also extends to emergency medical services (EMS), hospices, private medical practices, and institutions offering frail care.

Core Functions

The functions of the OHSC are set out in section 79 of the National Health Amendment Act, which states that the OHSC must:

• Advise the Minister on matters relating to norms and standards for the national health system and the review of such norms and standards, and on any other matters referred to by the OHSC by the Minister.
• Inspect and certify compliance by health establishments with the prescribed norms and standards or, if appropriate and necessary, withdraw such certification.
• Investigate complaints about the national health system.
• Monitor indicators of risk as an Early Warning System about serious breaches of norms and standards and report any breaches to the Minister without delay.
• Identify areas and make recommendations for intervention by a national or provincial department of health or municipal health department, where necessary, to ensure compliance with prescribed norms and standards.
• Recommend quality assurance and management systems for the national health system to the Minister for approval.
• Keep records of all OHSC activities.

The Act states that the OHSC may also:

• Issue guidelines to help health establishments implement the prescribed norms and standards.
• Request or collect any information on prescribed norms and standards from health establishments and health service users.
• Liaise with and exchange information with other regulatory authorities on matters of common interest and specific complaints or investigations.
• Negotiate cooperative agreements with any regulatory authority to coordinate and harmonise their work where their jurisdictions are closely related.
• Publish any information relating to prescribed norms and standards through the media and, where appropriate, within specific communities.