Pandemic is an opportunity to reform primary healthcare in SA
System’s private component should manage two or three times the volume of patients given its professional capacity
Successful healthcare systems have strong primary healthcare sectors, with general practitioners (GPs) being the patient’s first point of contact with the systems. Most services patients need can be provided cost-effectively in these practices, but the same service costs 10 times more when provided in a hospital.
Highly functional primary healthcare systems are structured in multidisciplinary teams that usually include four or five GPs, with nurses, allied professionals such as social workers and occupational therapists, and specialists who visit. They are funded as a team and are organised to work together to be accountable for their shared patients, constantly evaluating outcomes and adjusting their approach...
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