COHSASA elects new deputy chairperson

Sharon Slabbert trained as a registered nurse and midwife and has worked in the private hospital industry for more than 30 years. During her tenure at the Hospital Association of South Africa as an executive officer: health service delivery, she has been involved in every aspect of hospital management with a particular emphasis on nursing and quality-related matters. She is a past chairperson of the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA) and has served on the COHSASA board since 2005, participating in the technical committee as well as the standards development committee.

She has been part of many national activities related to quality and has been part of the working group developing norms and standards for the office of health standards compliance including participating in the pilot study as well as the accreditation of government hospitals and inspection of private hospitals for the issuing of practice Ccde numbers. She is the serving chairperson of the technical committee on intravenous fluids at the South African Bureau of Standards.

Sharon has written numerous articles and presented at many conferences and workshops. She is a passionate patient advocate and remains a nurse at heart.

Commenting on her appointment, she said, “I feel very honoured and privileged to have been appointed the deputy chairperson of COHSASA as I believe that the work it does makes a measurable difference to patients in all the countries where it's is active. I am looking forward to being part of this process of quality improvement and to the broadening of COHSASA’s role as an innovation hub on the forefront of service excellence.”