GEORGE SURGICAL CENTRE (PTY) LTD

TERMS AND CONDITIONS AGREED TO BY PATIENTS / PARENTS AND LEGAL GAURDIANS

ABOUT THIS HOSPITAL

  1. George Surgical Centre (Pty) Ltd is a private day hospital. We strive to provide exceptional quality healthcare to the community

PRICING/FEES AND PAYMENT

  1. George Surgical Centre is a member of the Day Hospital Association of South Africa (DHASA). Tariffs and rates are negotiated by DHASA with the different medical aids on a yearly base. We charge accordingly.
  2. All medical aid co- payments are payable prior to admission.
  3. Private patients are charged at a private rate and as negotiated by the different specialities. Estimates are provided to patients and this must be settled in full prior to admission. Please note that this is only an estimate and prices may vary according to theatre time and consumables used.
  4. Our fees cover your hospital visit (admission, ward, theatre, stock and equipment). Our fees exclude the cost of the attending doctor, anaesthetists, pathologists (for blood tests), radiologists (for X-rays and scans) and therapists involved in your care. You have to discuss their fees with them. There are some procedures for which the attending doctor have entered into global fee arrangements with some medical scheme options. In such a case, a single fee will cover various aspects of your in hospital healthcare, as provided by various professionals and the hospital.
  5. Please note that the cost of healthcare sometimes depends on how your body reacts to treatments and/or operations. The law allows us to step in to save your life, or to prevent or reduce harm to you. We will charge for the costs of this.
  6. By choosing the hospital, you –
    • Consent to us submitting the account to your medical scheme electronically through a third party or by email. This does not mean that the scheme has received the account or that they accept liability for the account. It remains your duty to confirm that with your medical scheme
    • If you do not want a particular account to be submitted to your medical scheme, please let us know prior to admission.
  7. All adults (persons over the age of 18) remain fully liable to settle the full account, irrespective of:
    • Whether your scheme gave pre-authorization; or
    • Whether you are a dependent on someone else’s medical
  8. If your account is not paid after 30 days, we will give, in terms of the National Credit Act, notice of 20 working days that your account is in arrears. If you fail to settle the account within another 10 days, the account will be handed over for debt collection. This may result in you having a bad credit record. We reserve the right to charge the maximum amount of 2% interest per month, as allowed by the National Credit Act on all outstanding amounts. You will also be responsible for all cost relating to the debt collection, such as commissions and fees levied by the debt collector and/or attorney.
  9. If you feel that your medical scheme should have paid in full, you can lay a complaint at your scheme’s internal complaints process, and thereafter the Council for Medical Schemes by fax: (012) 431-0608 or at this email address: complaints@medicalschemes.com.

ON TIME OF PERFORMANCE OF SERVICE

  1. Although we will do our best to render the services at the time we set, a previous patient’s procedure may  take longer or an emergency case is given preference, this affecting your booked time. By agreeing to our services, you agree to this uncertainty.

COMPLAINTS & CONCERNS

  1. The hospital aims to ensure that all complaints and concerns are addressed appropriately and expeditiously. When visiting the hospital and using the services and products offered, all patients / consumers and their accompanying persons will, in the case of any complaints or concerns, use the hospital’s complaints policy and form as a first port of call. Both the policy and form are available from reception, administrative staff or electronic on our website georgesurgical.co.za

CONFIDENTIALITY

  1. This document constitutes a contractual agreement by the hospital to protect all personal information in confidence and aligns with the ethical and professional duties placed on healthcare professionals to preserve confidentiality.
  2. In general, we keep all your information confidential, including information of a child over  12 years of age.. We can only release information with your written consent, even if a family member requests the information. Please provide us with that consent if you want us to be able to disclose certain information to your family, your employer or other persons or entities. A consent to disclosure form can be obtained from reception, administrative staff or electronically on our website georgesurgical.co.za.
  3. During your hospital visit we will do our best to ensure your privacy. Due to the layout of a day hospital we can however not guarantee full privacy from other patients.
  4. We will use your information only to provide healthcare and in the following cases, to which you agree by signing this form, please scrap if you do not agree:
    • Conference presentations, round table discussions, academic meetings, where healthcare professionals gather to discuss patient care and scientific advances. In these cases, when we use your case as an example, we will ensure that you are not identifiable at all.
    • Electronic submission of accounts and patient information through a third party, elected by the DHASA, to the medical aid. The third party process the data and provide DHASA with statistics for negotiation purposes.
  5. The following special cases exist where the law compels us to disclose your personal and/or health information and by agreeing to our services, you acknowledge this legal duty that we have to disclose:
    • To your medical scheme According to Regulation5(f) of the Medical Scheme’s Act it is compulsory for all accounts to reflect the relevant diagnostic codes (in ICD-10 format) Your right to withhold such information must be done in writing prior to admission.
    • To the Compensation Commission in cases of work -related illness or Personal and other information will be shared with CompSol for the purpose of the administrating and prefunding of the claim. By choosing the hospital, for this service, you consent to us sharing all relevant information with CompSol.
    • The Road Accident Fund, if you want to claim from or in the case of a motor-vehicle accident, all details they require of us.
    • To referring healthcare professionals or others involved in your care: Information that is necessary and in your best interest will be shared with such healthcare professionals in terms of the National Health Act.
    • To the cancer registry, which database is managed by the National Department of Health and the NHLS and is used to ensure better planning and responses to cancer.
  6. We keep and may use anonymized information (i.e. without your name, identity number or address) to companies who collect this data to track trends in healthcare services, such as prescription data or hospital admissions.
  7. Some medical schemes provide all information on all the dependents on a scheme to the principal (main) We do not accept liability for any personal or health information that is disclosed as a result and you should direct queries on this to the medical scheme you belong to.

PURPOSE AND NATURE OF HEALTHCARE

  1. You confirm that you understand that in healthcare results cannot always be predicted or guaranteed. Results also depend on how one’s body reacts to the treatment and/or procedures.
  2. You confirm that you understand that your own behaviour or that of a child or person legally under your care may affect the outcome of the healthcare received. You agree to follow the instructions provided to you by the healthcare professionals and/or come for follow-ups, etc. If you do not follow the instructions of the healthcare professionals or others, you undertake to not hold the Practice and its staff liable for any negative consequence.

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CHILDREN AND HEALTHCARE

  1. You confirm that you understand that, as a parent or legal guardian, you are legally liable to cover the cost of your child’s healthcare, even if the Children’s Act allows the child to provide consent to treatment without your consent (children 12 – 18 years who understand the implications of the treatment). You also confirm that you understand that there is a special legal dispensation and forms that must be used in cases of operations on children.

EQUIPMENT, MEDICAL DEVICES AND MEDICINES (“GOODS”) WE USE

  1. If we have to substitute a medicine or device with another one, we will obtain your consent for that. This is however not possible when you are in theatre, but we will inform you of that afterwards. In theatre, we will only substitute if necessary, such as when certain goods are not available, or are not working for your specific requirements.
  2. In some instances, we may use products “off label”. That means that the specific product is not registered in South Africa for that specific use. We do however ensure that there is scientific backing for the use. We will inform you and obtain your consent in cases where off label use of a product is recommended for you.
  3. Pharmacy- and health legislation prevents us from taking back any medicines or equipment we have provided to We can also not refund such products.
  4. We have to report all negative consequences (“adverse events”) of medicines and medical devices to the manufacturer and the They will decide on the correct action and will inform us, and sometimes you, of the necessary steps to take.

PATIENT / CLIENT / CONSUMER DUTIES (NATIONAL HEALTH ACT, 2003)

  1. You must adhere to the rules of the Hospital and any instructions given to you by staff or healthcare professionals.
  2. You have the right to ask questions and to have them answered. If you do not ask any questions, we will assume that you have understood everything and are in agreement with everything.
  3. You and/or your family or other persons that come to the Hospital should not harass the healthcare professionals and staff. They must be treated with respect. If not, we are allowed by law to refuse to treat- or to continue to treat you or your children. In such cases, we will refer you to another Practice.
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