Emergency Centre

Offering 24 hour Emergency Care

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EMERGENCY CENTRE

The Emergency Centre (EC) is in many ways the front door of the hospital. On average 2500-3000 people come through its doors per month. They are met by an excellent team who aim to offer them the best care possible, whether the emergency be medical, surgical or even social.

The success of the Emergency Centre lies in impeccable teamwork. Every member of the team playing an important role, from nursing staff, porters, clerks, cleaning and kitchen staff and doctors. They have a combined priority of offering not just state of the art medicine but care and empathy too. In the EC patients are stabilised and referred to the appropriate department or treated and discharged home.

The Centre was built in 1972 as a temporary addition to the hospital with a dream to build a bigger and better facility. In 2021 this long awaited dream was realised. Friends of Victoria partnered with the government to build a state of the art unit.

The upgrade has meant improvements for patient privacy, improved infection control, spacious fully equipped resuscitation areas and much more. It has provided a modern and up to date space for patients and everything needed to offer high level emergency care and improved patient management.

Dr Philip Cloete
Head of Department, Emergency

Dr Cloete leads the dynamic team in the Emergency Centre (EC). Dr Cloete did his undergraduate medical degree in Pretoria and specialized in Emergency Medicine at the University of Cape Town. He went on to work at Khayalitsha hospital where he gained valuable experience and then joined the Victoria team in 2013. Flip, as he is more affectionately known by his colleagues, is an exceptionally skilled and astute clinician and leads by example. The EC, due to its busy nature as well as the teaching gift of Dr Cloete and his colleagues, has become a favourite elective destination for both local and foreign elective students. In his spare time Flip is a triathlete and ironman competitor.

Sister Carol Weir – Operational Manager

Sister Carol Weir is the nursing Operational Manager for the Emergency Centre at Victoria Hospital. Sister Weir is highly experienced and has been working at Victoria Hospital since 1988. She was part of the first “Staff Nurse” course given in 1988 at the Hospital. Interestingly, she was inspired to become a nurse when she attended Victoria Hospital as a patient when she was a child. She reports that the wonderful care she received from the nurses at Victoria Hospital inspired her to become a nurse of the same calibre. Sister Weir leads an enthusiastic, dedicated and passionate nursing team providing skilled care in a fast-paced clinical environment.

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Emergency Centre

Offering 24 hour Emergency Care

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Staff

Highly qualified and dedicated staff.

State of the art Facility

Providing Emergency Care in a modern, newly built Emergency Centre.

Teamwork

Working within a well functioning hospital.

There is no glamour, no one saying 'Stat!'
But it is making patients feel listened to, cared for
and human in a tough moment."

- Dr. Anke Nitzsche -