WSO - April 2023 - 378

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY
Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and
Heart Centre Leads The Way
Treating stroke is a team sport. Numerous studies show that multidisciplinary teamwork
produces better quality of care and reduces mistakes, which is why teamwork is
increasingly receiving top priority in research about healthcare delivery systems.
The positive impact of teamwork
on performance is manifested
in all areas of healthcare, but
it is particularly powerful in an
emergency such as stroke where
every second counts. Every Angels
award-winning hospital knows that
it is a team effort that delivers the
best patient outcomes - and in this
Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and
Heart Centre is no exception.
There is however something
exceptional about the stroke
team at this Durban hospital that
recently became the first private
facility in South Africa to meet the
requirements for a WSO Angels
Award. It's that teamwork in this
instance doesn't only stretch across
several medical disciplines and
specialisations as it should: it also
spans the management hierarchy all
the way to the top.
Take a meeting of the stroke
committee, for example, that takes
place once a month and is chaired by
neurologist Dr Zaynah Dangor, with
the support of Dr Mohammed Khan,
neurologist. It is a multidisciplinary
gathering of clinicians including
neurologists, neurosurgeons and
emergency doctors, the clinical
programme coordinator, Samantha
Myles, nursing and unit managers,
specialists in post-acute care and
rehabilitation, practice managers
from radiology and pathology,
the pharmacy manager, and
representatives of the ambulance
team.
Also in attendance: the hospital
CEO Niresh Bechan as well as, by
invitation, the group chief medical
officer Dr Nilesh Patel, group clinical
governance manager Deena Naidoo
and the group quality systems specialist,
Samantha Hall.
In stark contrast with hospitals whose
stroke teams struggle to secure
management support for changes
needed to optimise the stroke pathway,
at Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and Heart
Centre improving stroke care is already
on everyone's agenda. In fact, Niresh
Bechan says, " the stroke programme is our
passion " .
Passion at this hospital is ambition turned
into action, but there is also a sense in
which passion is personal. It springs to
mind when Niresh, acknowledging his
hospital's gold award at Angels Day in
Johannesburg early December, shares a
personal story about the impact of his
grandfather's stroke on his family and
himself. And he's not the only one in the
team for whom passion is an energy that
comes from the heart.
Clinical programme coordinator Samantha
Myles was a first-year nursing student
when she heard her grandfather speak for
the last time before a stroke robbed him
of both speech and mobility. And it wasn't
just the desire to understand how the brain
works and unravel its many mysteries that
drew Dr Dangor to neurology.
Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and Heart
Centre was established in 2008. It is
part of the Lenmed Private Hospital
Group that traces its history to 1984
when the first Lenmed Clinic, now
named Ahmed Kathrada Private
Hospital, opened its doors in Lenasia
outside Johannesburg. The hospital
thrombolysed its first stroke patient
in 2010, well ahead of the majority of
hospitals in South Africa, and went
on to become a landmark in cardiac
care. The only hospital in KwaZuluNatal
that offers paediatric cardiac
surgery, and the first in Africa to be
accredited by the American College
of Cardiology, Lenmed Ethekwini
Hospital and Heart Centre performed
its first heart transplant surgery in
2008.
Seeing her Parkinsons-stricken
grandfather deteriorate in his
final decade influenced both her
choice of speciality and her drive
to " do more and be better " .
A proud team and a proud hospital.
SPONSORED FEATURE I LENMED ETHEKWINI HOSPITAL AND HEART CENTRE LEADS THE WAY
Sponsored feature from
South Africa
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WSO - April 2023

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