For Patients

Patients are referred to Dr. van der Merwe as either being already hospitalised, also known as an inpatient, or as an outpatient, who visit our consultation facility for a scheduled appointment. As an inpatient, most of your information is already collected and filed by the hospital administration team prior to our meeting. As an outpatient, please ensure you bring all your available medical records, identity document and medical aid membership card with you.

Care expectations:

During the normal course of care you may expect the following:

• A first appointment, in which your condition and therapeutic options will be discussed with you in detail.
• Once you are comfortable with your therapeutic option, we will confirm a hospitalisation date and arrange all admission information.
• Admission occurs, in most circumstances, the day before surgery, with simultaneous introduction to our multi-disciplinary care team and further opportunity to discuss and prepare for your procedure.
• Your surgical intervention is then performed (keyhole, endoscopic, hybrid or trans-catheter approach were ever possible).
• You will then be admitted to intensive care for continuous, 24 hour specialist cardiovascular and thoracic critical care, followed by routine recovery in our ward.
• During your hospital stay, you will be frequently visited by our multi-disciplinary team to assess and evaluate your progress and recovery.
• Once our team consensus approve your recovery, you will be discharged from hospital with all information on your further home-based rehabilitation. This information is also passed on to your doctor.
• Our team will frequently communicate with you telephonically or by Skype within the subsequent 4 weeks to monitor your recovery at home.
• We will then schedule a formal clinical follow-up appointment after 4 weeks.

What to bring to your first appointment:
 

• We encourage and prefer the presence of your family or home carers during our consultations. You form the centre of our team and we wish to ensure that your loved ones are also prepared for your procedure and rehabilitation program.
• If English or Afrikaans is not your first language, please let us know to arrange for an interpreter that can ensure you are comfortable and content with our consultation and information sharing.
• Please bring your South African Identity Card / Document, a valid Health fund / Medical Aid membership card, a list of your medications.
•  A referral letter from your referring doctor and the results of as many previous investigations performed previously. Your doctor already performed various investigations, which we will only repeat if absolutely necessary.
• All available X-rays, CT scans, MRI, Angiogram/Echo images, etc. (normally on CD).
• Previous ECGs, Lung Function Tests etc.
• All previous pathology and blood investigation.
• Where available, kindly bring all previous medical and operation records, etc. from prior doctor visits.

During the normal course of care you may expect the following:

• If it is your first visit to Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital, kindly report to our friendly reception desk for direction to our consultation facility.
• You will meet Belinda Hall (Personal Assistant), who will guide you through a brief administrative process.
• Dr. van der Merwe will be delighted to meet you and your family and will ask you various questions regarding your health before performing a physical examination.
• He will then discuss the relevant aspects of your problem and provide a detailed outline of the various therapeutic options available to you, also including a thorough explanation of the risks, benefits and outcomes of each option.
• You may ask as many questions as you wish and can decide on your preferred strategy when you feel ready and comfortable.
• We will then propose an intervention date that suites you and your family best, after which you will be directed to meet Sr. Tessa van der Walt and her team at the hospital reception desk for hospital pre-admission arrangements.

Medical Aid / Health Funders Authorisation:
 

• We deliver our comprehensive patient centred cardiovascular and thoracic service at medical aid rates and try our best to ensure no additional co-payments from our patients.
• It is however, very important that you obtain authorisation from your Health Care Fund before we can proceed with any admission or surgical procedure.
• During your consultation, we will provide you and Sr. Tessa van der Walt with an ICD-10 and RPL code, which you have to kindly forward to your Health Care Fund at your earliest convenience, who will in return forward you and us an authorisation number that will allow our intervention as planned.
• We will gladly assist you in obtaining authorisation.