Groote Schuur Hospital's new Emergency Centre
An artist impression of the emergency centre entrance
Image: Supplied
Groote Schuur Hospital has been feeling the strain for years as one of the province’s busiest hospitals. With crowded emergency units, ageing buildings, and staff stretched to the limit with patient numbers climbing, leaving the facility under severe pressure.
Now, a multimillion-rand Emergency Centre, set to open next year, is being hailed as a silver lining promising more space, better equipment, and the chance for staff to care for patients properly. The build began in 2022 and is scheduled for completion in February 2026.
But while the development is being billed as a game-changer, questions remain about how it will be funded. Despite the R255 million infrastructure cost already sunk into the project, the hospital still faces a significant shortfall for equipment. Items such as ultrasound machines, cardiac monitors, X-ray systems, and even patient trolleys remain unfunded.
Dr Annemarie Kropman, Head of the Emergency Unit, said the new Centre will bring relief but admitted the current situation is unsustainable.
“Both trauma and non-trauma areas see a huge number of patients,” she said.
“Patient numbers have been increasing because of a growing local population and a growing number of people falling off medical aid, while the degree of patient illness has also been getting worse. The facilities are very old and the building is run down. Unfortunately, we now know there isn’t enough money for the list of equipment required. It’s been quite a blow.”
The Covid-19 pandemic only worsened conditions. “Some of the cardiac monitors, dating back to 2006, eventually broke down. With no replacement parts, we repurposed what we could, but you get to a point where there’s nothing more you can do,” Dr Kropman said.
The new Emergency Centre will be completed in three phases. Phase one wrapped up last year, phase two is underway with trauma and non-trauma wings under construction, and phase three is due for completion in February.
An artist impression of the waiting area
Image: Supplied
Once operational, the current trauma centre will be repurposed as a radiology department, while the non-trauma side will become a referral centre for various medical disciplines.
Medical Manager: Emergency & Critical Care Services, Dr Shrikant Maurice Peters, said the new facility was designed to transform care delivery.
“The new Groote Schuur Hospital Emergency Centre will be a purpose-built acute care space, with a central triage area and flow of patients to treatment areas based on level of acuity, need for advanced diagnostic imaging and definitive surgical intervention,” he explained.
The figures highlight the scale of the upgrade. The current Emergency Centre has 40 acute stretcher spaces and 25 holding spaces.
The new unit will have 54 acute stretcher spaces and 48 holding spaces (due in 2027). It will also reopen three newly renovated 24-hour trauma and emergency theatres, plus an additional full-sized operating room. The old unit had only two operating rooms, available during weekday hours only.
Groote Schuur expects to process between 4,500 and 6,000 patients per month, more than 150 per day once the new Centre is fully operational.
Still, financing remains the stumbling block.
Inside one of the wards
Image: Supplied
The hospital requires R20 million immediately for essential items to open the Centre safely, and a further R80 million over the next two financial years to equip the radiology and holding suites.
Budgets for staffing also remain under pressure. Funds for medical, nursing, pharmaceutical, radiography, physiotherapy, social work, security, administrative and general staff, including porters and cleaners, will have to be redirected from within the existing provincial health budget, raising concerns about sustainability.
To bridge the equipment funding gap, the Groote Schuur Hospital Trust has launched the Emergency Funds for Emergency Surgery (EFES) project, aimed at introducing 70 additional theatre lists per year and performing more than 200 extra surgeries. But officials say public and private sector support will be critical.
“Groote Schuur is a tertiary emergency centre, and there’s a certain service we should be able to provide,” Dr Kropman warned.
“Without the correct equipment we cannot do so, and that’s the bottom line. So we have a massive requirement to get support for the items that will make the Emergency Centre function optimally.”