The City of Cape Town’s health directorate has rolled out FreeCall lines at 24 clinics, including Bothasig clinic, where residents can report service-delivery issues while waiting to be seen by clinic staff.
“To date, client concerns have been dealt with at clinic level. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for us,’ said Mayco member for health Siyabulela Mamkeli.
FreeCall lines were first introduced in 2012 to allow residents in disadvantaged areas to communicate with the City’s call centre free of charge. To date, 142 FreeCall lines have been installed at municipal buildings, housing offices, cash offices, libraries, and so on.
Xanthea Limberg, Mayco member for corporate services, said: “We are pleased that our roll-out of FreeCall lines at City clinics will aid residents to provide constructive feedback to the City so we can ensure that our residents receive the quality health care they deserve. I believe that this has the potential to further improve our services to our clients and communities at large.”
Other areas where lines have been installed include Blue Downs, Eerste River, Wesbank, Philippi, Parow, Durbanville, Westlake, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha and Lansdowne.
Site visits at three other clinics, Bloekombos, Melkbosstrand and Muizenberg, found that there is not enough space inside the facilities to install the FreeCall lines. Investigations are under way to determine whether it is possible to install the telephones outside the clinics.