George Hospital is the only regional hospital (266 beds) in the Garden Route and Central-Karoo. It provides district (Family Medicine), regional (Surgery, Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Obs & Gynae, Psychiatry and Orthopaedics) as well as tertiary services, including Maxillo-facial, Urology, ENT, Ophthalmology, Oncology and Neonatology.
It also has the only CT scanner in the area and therefore accepts patients from all the nearby district hospitals who require a CT scan. There is a 6-bed High Care Unit, 4 operating theatres and 2 day theatres. Each clinical unit consist of 3-4 specialists, a registrar, a few medical officers and interns.
The following departments are able to host electives:
- Internal Medicine
- Paediatrics & Neonatology
- Surgery(only General)
- Family Medicine & Emergency Unit (*they are also responsible for Urology & ENT - but this is not a daily service)
- Orthopaedics
- Anaesthetics
- Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Psychiatry
- Ophthalmology
It is important to note that there are no “subspecialties” like Neurology, Cardiology, Paediatric Surgery etc.
The Emergency Centre (EC) manages 40 000 to 45 000 patients per year and is staffed by Family and Emergency Medicine Physicians. There are 10 permanent senior doctors working in the unit on a shift-type system, a strong permanent nursing team. Many procedures are done, including ultrasonography, intercostal drains, suturing, closed reductions of fractures and dislocations, and of course all the ALS procedures, managing airways, breathing, and circulation. We regularly ventilate patients, including the use of non-invasive ventilation.
Regular activities include:
- Daily consultant-lead ward rounds at 7:45 and at 16:00
- Tuesday morning CME – Emergency and Family Medicine teaching
- Wednesday morning – Multidisciplinary academic ward round with antibiotic stewardship
- Thursday morning – Nurses training and Radiology/ECG teaching
- Friday morning – Hospital CME Discussions
- Monthly morbidity and mortality meetings
- Ultrasound teaching daily
More on the Surroundings
George is known as the gateway to the Garden Route and is situated about 400km from Cape Town. It is nestled between the Outeniqua Mountains and the Indian Ocean which forms the perfect playground for every sports enthusiast. Surfing, hiking, mountain biking, paragliding, kitesurfing and trail running are readily enjoyed it the moderate Mediterranean climate - rated as the second mildest climate in the world by the Guinness World Book of Record! It has a local airport with daily return flights from Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
There are a number of picturesque towns to explore along the Garden Route like Sedgefield, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and Wilderness. Each of these towns have Blue Flag beaches to visit. This area is world renowned for its stunning natural beauty and diversity. There are a number of Blue Flag beaches at Knysna, Victoria Bay, Wilderness and Plettenberg Bay.
The Klein Karoo , a semi-arid area ,with Oudtshoorn as its main town, is less than 1 hours’ drive from George. Oudtshoorn boasts the Kango Caves which is among the top 10 attractions in South Africa. Oudtshoorn is also well known as an ostrich farming area.
