South African private health-care company Netcare on Monday launched a family connect line to keep Covid-19 patients who have been hospitalised and their loved ones connected.
Following a significant surge in the number of people with Covid-19 infections who require hospitalisation, Netcare has suspended visitation in its hospitals in order to mitigate the risk of the virus spreading.
In a statement, the company said launching a family connect line was in line with its focus on placing each patient in hospital and their loved ones at the centre of the care provided to them.
“This makes it possible for families to engage with dedicated personnel, mainly social workers who we deployed for this purpose, for information on the status of their loved ones admitted with Covid-19 to any of our Netcare hospitals countrywide, whilst enabling us to maintain patient confidentiality.” said Netcare CEO Dr Richard Friedland.
The Netcare family connect line service enables patients’ next of kin to connect with a trained call centre professional, who will facilitate the feedback process.
A Netcare representative at the hospital where the patient is cared for will obtain information on the patient’s status and will personally phone the family member to provide feedback.
Messages to and from the family and patient will also be relayed where direct communication between the family and patient is not possible.
Feedback will be provided within hours of the first enquiry and daily thereafter.
The number for the Netcare Family Connect Line is 0800 111 266.
It will be operational on weekdays from 8am to 6pm and on weekends from 8am to 5pm.
The company said since the beginning of January 2021, it has already recruited and deployed 30 social workers to support patients and their families in non-clinical patient liaison roles, which will enable health-care workers to focus solely on their clinical and nursing duties.