An evaluation of the provision and performance of acute care hospitals in the non-metropolitan regions of the Western Cape Province

Includes bibliographical references.Health Departments across South Africa face increasing financing constraints comparable to other developing countries and reported internationally. During the 1997/98 financial year, the Department of Health (DOH), Provincial Administration of the Western Cape (PAWC) faced huge cuts in its financial resource allocation from the National Department as policy shifted to wards addressing past inequity between the provinces. In the Western Cape Province, 200 regional hospital beds have already been closed with a further 500 beds located in academic health centres earmarked for closure. Hospitals in the province consume over 73% of the health care budge at PAWC and faced with budget cuts, research teams were approached to evaluate the supply of acute care hospital beds focusing on efficiency and equity in order to guide rational policy decisions to achieve savings from hospitals