Pictured at the opening of the Ezulwini Private Hospital in eSwatini which has now been accredited are (from Left): Elsa van den Berg, Nursing Services Manager, Jacqui Stewart, CEO of COHSASA, and Dr Thandeka Khanyile, CEO of Ezulwini.

The 80-bed Ezulwini Private Hospital recently became the first COHSASA accredited hospital in eSwatini. Situated in that country’s capital, Mbabane, the hospital achieved a compliance rating of 93 and has been given a two-year award.

Says CEO of COHSASA, Ms Jacqui Stewart, “This is a great achievement for the team at Ezulwini Private Hospital. They started to implement the accreditation standards soon after this state-of-the-art hospital was opened, underlining that safe, quality care is the priority for their patients”

Another outstanding feature of these latest awards – see the list below – is the accreditation of two more Cure Day Hospitals – East London and Wilgeheuwel. This increases the total number of accredited Cure Day Hospitals in South Africa to nine out of 12 hospitals.

What Do These Awards Represent?

When a health facility earns COHSASA accreditation, it’s a sign that it has achieved robust international standards. This means patients visiting these facilities can trust they’ll receive safe, high-quality care.

Want to know more about accreditation? Visit www.cohsasa.co.za

But what does this mean?

A COHSASA full accreditation award confirms that a healthcare facility has successfully completed a rigorous quality improvement programme. It is compliant with standards endorsed by the International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association (ISQua-EEA), the global authority overseeing quality in healthcare across 70 countries.

COHSASA itself is accredited by ISQua-EEA, as are its standards, making it the only internationally recognised accrediting body for healthcare facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Facilities entering COHSASA’s programme initially earn a two-year accreditation for meeting these demanding standards. As they continue their journey of quality improvement, longer awards reflect their sustained excellence. A four-year accreditation signals to patients that the facility has maintained superior standards for at least eight years.

To ensure that the standards are maintained, all accredited facilities must undergo an interim survey halfway through their accreditation period. This ensures that quality standards remain high and that patients continue to benefit from outstanding care.

In Loving Memory of Elsa Wiehman by Jacqui Stewart

Elsa joined COHSASA in 1997, during the company’s early years. However, she left in 2005 to be closer to home for her son’s schooling. She rejoined on April 1, 2010, and recently celebrated her 14th year with the organisation.

After so many years of hard work and diligent attention to detail, the loss of Elsa leaves a big gap in our institutional memory. The loss will be felt by all her colleagues, present and past who enjoyed her cheerful, sometimes hair-raisingly truthful personality and her mischievous sense of humour.

Elsa had many great qualities: she was courteous and friendly when dealing with our clients and was always quick to respond to any queries. As one client told us, “Elsa was a joy to work with, she never seemed to forget small details and was unfailingly kind”.
She helped so many people with no thought of a reward and gave selflessly to our organisation over many years.

Elsa had tenacity and a dogged sense of perseverance that she used to ensure that all payments were collected. Her attention to detail ensured the accounts were always meticulously kept.

Although her home language was Afrikaans, Elsa’s penchant for meticulous observation meant that she always found any errors in complicated correspondence in English.
Elsa was a truly remarkable person and a dedicated member of the COHSASA team. Her contributions and the positive impact she had on her colleagues and clients will be remembered.

In all her engagements with peers, clients, suppliers and colleagues she always made time to check, correct and ensure accuracy with a knife-sharp precision. We will miss her smile; we will miss her chuckle, and we will miss her koeksisters. We will miss her.

Staff gathered for the internal rebranding launch of COHSASA’s new look. From left (in front): Marilyn Keegan, Nadine Joubert, Noleen Davids, Petra Sewing, Firdousa Ajouhaar and Roselyne October. From left (Back row): Leonard Londa, Riël Le Roux, Cheryl Adams, Kefuoe Machaea-Qwela. Mtisunge Chiotha, Jacqui Stewart and Giel van Schalkwyk. Absent from this photo: Elsa Wiehman and Laetitia Jackson.

They were involved in the rebranding process from the start by supplying ideas associated with the brand’s personality. They then selected one theme from four developed as the final brand. In a comprehensive presentation, Marketing Consultant Tania Morgan, who led the branding exercise, introduced the concepts and thought processes behind the new design and corporate image. She described it as the culmination of the COHSASA team’s efforts.

After many months of hard work, a “new” COHSASA has emerged.

“It was a strategic design process. If the gauge of rebranding reflects a spectrum of change, then the work done to date is not an evolution of the COHSASA brand but a revolution,” she said.

“We wanted to capture the graphic elements a company would need to signal that it is leading a groundswell to effect change in the way health care is delivered in Africa.”

She explained the various symbols and colours that had been deliberately chosen for the new COHSASA brand and emphasised that the selected brand designs were not the result of a haphazard or whimsical choice but the end result of a carefully thought-out strategy. The brand redesign supports COHSASA’s purpose to create a safe healthcare journey for every patient in Africa with the fundamental belief that quality healthcare is a human right.

She explained the thinking behind the new brand colours and how the core colours of the new COHSASA palette had been intentionally selected for meaning and differentiation.
Ms Morgan emphasised that the new COHSASA brand would speak to the profile of the company as leading the movement for better health care in Africa.

Early Morning Meeting of the ISQua African Community of Practice.

Jacqui Stewart and Dr Sabelile Tenza from North West University. Dr Tenza is taking over the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety conference at Africa Health this year. Jacqui had done it for many years but is handing over the baton.

Jacqui Stewart with colleagues from Namibia.

Jacqui Stewart with Pinkie Letsholo, Gofaone Dolly Keitihetse & Caroline Mmmallori Basupang all from the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Botswana.

Patrick Gauchi from Malawi with Jacqui at ISQua. Patrick is now in charge of 7th Day Adventist hospitals in Southern Africa, including Botswana and Namibia.

The big announcement at the ISQua conference was that COHSASA was one of only a few accrediting bodies that achieved ‘AAA’ ISQuaEEA accreditation as an organisation, for its standards and its surveyor training programme from 2023 to 2027.

The conference went off without a hitch – even though Netcare CEO Richard Friedland’s suggestions on how to mobilise financial resources to make NHI more achievable – “Viable and Near-Term Opportunities to Providing Enhanced Healthcare in South Africa” – may not have been warmly received by the incumbent Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.

There were many highlights in the programme – one of them being a talk by Craig Rosewarne, the MD of Wolfpack Information Risk – a specialist firm established in 2011 that assists countries, companies and communities to defend against cyber threats. His talk had delegates riveted to their seats learning how cunning and able cybercriminals are becoming in scamming and stealing from internet users.

There were several sessions that considered pragmatic steps to address inequity and improve healthcare access from different perspectives – from the view of primary care, dialysis, cancer care (a hugely informative address by health activist, Mark Heywood) and from the viewpoint of human resources for health.

Dr Melanie Stander, General Manager of Clinical Services for Mediclinic moderated a fascinating panel discussion “The Voice of the Patient” which exposed weaknesses in hearing the patient’s voice and a way forward for multidisciplinary groups in the healing process.

It was an important, informative and sobering conference: watch out for the one in 2025.

CEO of COHSASA, Jacqui Stewart at our stand at the HASA 2024 Conference sporting the new corporate look.

An audience at the Sandton Conference Centre listen to a panel discussion on the “Voice of the Patient”.

Delegates interact at the exhibition at the HASA conference at the Sandton Conference Centre.

Day One and Day Two of the conference were pleasantly interrupted by a night out at Katy’s Palace Bar. The entertainment was superb like this violinist in a harness hanging from the ceiling wowing the crowd.

Jacqui Stewart, CEO of COHSASA,  has been appointed to the steering committee of the re-instatement of the African Community of Practice.

After a break of 4 years (!), ISQua is excited to re-launch the African Community of Practice! We invite you to our first webinar taking place on 5th September at 12:00 Accra time/15:00 Nairobi time. Join the Steering Committee – Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, Chika Odioemene, Jacqui Stewart, Elom Otchi, Ruthpearl Ng’ang’a, Rhoda Kalondu, Salomey Akpariba, Stephen Balogun and Wafa Allouche – to learn about the plans for this new Community and find out how you can contribute!

Register here👉 bit.ly/AFCOP2024 👈

Jacqui Stewart, CEO of COHSASA, presented the accreditation certificate to Hospital Manager Anel Scheepers. Stewart expressed heartfelt congratulations, emphasizing the difficulty and value of achieving accreditation: “Achieving accreditation is not easy, and if it were, it might not be worth it!” She highlighted that the hospital now meets international standards, standing among the “very best.”

“For health practitioners, this accreditation is particularly meaningful as it signifies adherence to the best guidelines and protocols,” Stewart said. “The challenge we’re seeing currently is staff attitudes, with too many entering the field for a job rather than a passion to help people. However, Cure Day Hospitals are an exception. Our surveyors report that you consistently do the right things, the right way, the first time.

“Having achieved accreditation three times, the fourth will be much easier! You are embedding quality in everything you do, making it part of your daily routine without conscious effort or panic over missing documents.

“This is a real achievement. Congratulations and well done.”

With the management team of the hospital in attendance, Ms Jacqui Stewart, CEO of COHSASA (seated front middle) presents the accreditation certificates to Johan Stadler Hospital General Manager of Mediclinic Durbanville (seated to her left) and to Yvette Jordaan, Day Clinic Manager of Mediclinic Durbanville Day Clinic (seated to her right).

Jacqui Stewart, the CEO of COHSASA, presented the certificates, congratulating Hospital General Manager, Johan Stadler, and Day Clinic Manager, Yvette Jordaan, for leading the process that achieved a compliance rating of 97 out of a possible 100 with COHSASA standards. Stewart noted that Mediclinic Durbanville’s repeated accreditations demonstrate a commitment to continuous quality improvement.

“It emphasises the importance of integrating quality improvement, safety, and excellence in patient care into the very DNA of healthcare facilities,” she said.

A highly qualified nurse herself, Stewart emphasised the importance of nurses in all hospitals embodying compassionate responsibility to their patients, saying, “We must instil in all our nursing team members, the sense of vocation to deliver the best care we can to make patient-centred care a reality”.

She thanked all staff for everything they had done for their patients and their commitment to quality – especially during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stewart also underscored the importance of achieving and maintaining standards. “What matters is that the long-term application of standards in a healthcare facility results in quality improvement ingrained as part of routine activity. It is not a ‘wallpapering’ exercise to impress COHSASA surveyors” she concluded.

Mediclinic Nelspruit has been accredited by COHSASA for four years.

Equally exciting is the accreditation of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (Chuk) in Rwanda’s capital city which has also achieved a two-year accreditation award.

What do these awards mean?

Health facilities that have been accredited by COHSASA meet extremely rigorous international standards, signifying that patients attending these facilities can expect to receive safe, quality care. To see more about accreditation, look at www.cohsasa.co.za

COHSASA is a not-for-profit company (NPC) based in Cape Town. Here is the list of the latest accreditation awards conferred at a recent Board Meeting of COHSASA.

COHSASA itself is accredited by the ISQua EEA as are its standards. COHSASA is the only accrediting body for healthcare facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa recognised by the ISQua EEA.

Healthcare facilities that initially enter the programme and meet standards are awarded two-year accreditations and as the journey in quality improvement continues, awards of longer duration are given. A four-year accreditation award from COHSASA should signal to patients that a facility has sustained an excellent level of standards over a significant period of time.

All facilities that receive an accreditation award must undergo an interim survey halfway through the period to ensure that standards are being maintained.