Western Cape Department of Health Walks Away with Top Performing Government Award

On Thursday night, 23 June 2011, Prof Craig Househam, Head of the Western Cape Department of Health, won the Top Performing Government Leader Award at the Annual African Access Business Awards held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

The awards is considered the premier awards event for South African businesses. The annual awards ceremony recognises and honours the top performers of the year in both business and industry and government. Prof Househam has been a driving force behind the many positive changes made to the health landscape in the Western Cape since he took over in 2001. Since the approval of his brain child, Healthcare 2010, the department has implemented policies and programmes that have led to many improvements in service delivery and patient experience.

"The award we received last night is testament of a team of experts working well within a unit. Winning this award demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction when it comes to providing healthcare to our citizens. We have offered much of ourselves and going forward we will offer even more to be rated the best provincial Department of Health in the world for healthcare," says Professor Craig Househam, Head of Western Cape Department of Health.

With an illustrious career in medical science, Professor Househam, with a wealth of experience, obtained his MB CHb and MD at UCT in 1973 and 1986 respectively. From 1996 to 2001, he was the Deputy Director General: Head of Health in the Free State. Professor Househam led the vision to a new strategic direction for the Western Cape called Healthcare 2010. This has seen the transformation of healthcare services which led to service improvements, effective management, reaching service delivery targets and achieving unqualified audits.

Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha, congratulated Prof Househam and the department on this outstanding achievement. "Professor Househam and the department deserve this public acknowledgement and recognition for their entrepreneurship and out-of-the-box thinking. They work under difficult circumstances and the public demand is overwhelming at times. They have displayed exemplary innovation over a long period of time and, above all, our employees are succeeding in implementing these innovations from top management levels right through to every health facility in the rural areas of this province. They have done us proud."

With the development of a new vision and strategy towards 2020, the Western Cape Department of Health will make the provision of a comprehensive package of health services, including the promotion of health, prevention of disease, curative care and rehabilitation, and training and education, delivered across all levels of care. With this in mind, the Department of Health will focus on the following key elements of the strategy: wellness patient centeredness - a move towards an outcomes-based approach, the retention of a primary healthcare philosophy, strengthening the District Health Services (DHS) model, and building strategic partnerships.

Editor's notes: For more information on the African National Business Awards, visit their website.

Core function of the Western Cape Department of Health: The core function and responsibility of the Western Cape Department of Health is to deliver a comprehensive package of health services to the people of the province. The Western Cape Department of Health is ensuring and improving the health of all people in the Western Cape and beyond by the providing a balanced health care system, in partnership with all stakeholders, within the context of optimal socio-economic development.

Issued by: Western Cape Ministry of Health