Chris Du Toit

I have been to the Urology Hospital twice recently, on 26 & 27 June and again on 10 & 11 July. A hospital visit is never a pleasant experience, but it can sometimes be made more bearable. In my case, although everyone was extremely pleasant and helpful, I have a number of people to make special mention of:

1. Dr. F J Potgieter. This man inspires confidence in his patients, his diagnosis is spot-on, his surgical work is absolutely top class and his aftercare is beyond reproach. He works very hard. He sees his patients after the procedure in theatre, no matter what time of the evening it is and he is in again before 07h00 the following morning. From an all-round perspective, this is the best specialist I have had the pleasure to deal with.
2. Dr. Potgieter’s secretary, Ronel, is a person anyone would wish to deal with. It is just a pity there are not more people like her around. She is an absolute star and she was also involved in helping is save a lot of money in medical aid co-payments (more on this in the next item).
3. Michelle at admission. This wonderful lady was the person who informed is how to get our medical aid to pay for a procedure which they normally just mark as “patient to pay”, without telling us under what conditions they do actually pay for the procedure in question. Since I have to go in 3 times for this procedure, Michelle (and Ronel) helped is to save R20,700.00, which we probably would have paid without their kind assistance. To me this proves their commitment to client service.
4. Ruan at admission. He helped us on 26 June and on 10 July he was instrumental in sorting out, and getting confirmation from the medical aid that they approve payment for the procedure I mentioned in the previous items.
5. Pinky at admission. On 10 July we arrived late because of accidents on the way from Kempton Park. Pinky assisted us while Ruan continued helping the other patients with admission. The result was that I managed to go into theatre earlier.
6. The nursing staff in wards A and B on the second floor. In particular a lady called Ouma in ward A. She was on duty during the evening of 10 July and the morning of 11 July. She was so friendly, helpful and understanding and it made a huge difference to my stay in hospital.

All these people have shown a commitment to customer care, which is a rare commodity in South Africa these days. My compliments and sincere gratitude for the people working at Urology Hospital Hatfield. Although my opinion may not mean much, feel free to use this e-mail in any way that can benefit the hospital and the people mentioned in this e-mail.