Exploring the characteristics of nursing agencies in South Africa

Olojede, Omolola Iwayemi; Rispel, Laetitia C.

doi:10.3402/gha.v8.27878

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Olojede and Rispel, in the final paper within the casualisation theme, explore the characteristics of nursing agencies in South Africa, and their relationship with clients in the health sector ( 18 ). Although a small sample of nursing agencies was selected, the study found that 27% of these nursing agencies provided services to homes for elderly people ( 18 ). Nursing agencies were more likely to have contracts with private sector clients (84%), than with public sector clients (16%) ( 18 ).…”

Section: Themes and Focus Of The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although a small sample of nursing agencies was selected, the study found that 27% of these nursing agencies provided services to homes for elderly people ( 18 ). Nursing agencies were more likely to have contracts with private sector clients (84%), than with public sector clients (16%) ( 18 ). In terms of quality checks and monitoring, 81% of agencies agreed with a statement that they checked the Nursing Council registration of nurses, 82% agreed with a statement that they requested certified copies of a nurse's qualifications, but only 21% indicated that they conducted reference checks of nurses with their past employers ( 18 ).…”

Section: Themes and Focus Of The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

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Transforming nursing policy, practice and management in South Africa

Rispel

2015

Global Health Action

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Section: Themes and Focus Of The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Themes and Focus Of The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming nursing policy, practice and management in South Africa

Rispel

2015

Global Health Action

Self Cite

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“…The precarious nature of her work in the healthcare sector intersects with her refugee status to render her vulnerable to exploitation by labor brokers in the healthcare industry. Nursing agencies act as labor brokers between employees and employers in the sector, leading to the casualization of skilled labor in a sector that is considered as an essential service during COVID-19 (Van Eck, 2010;Olojede and Rispel, 2015;Stevano et al, 2020: 2). In this context, the participant was vulnerable to exploitation as employers do not have any legal obligation and offered no social protection to her during her illness.…”

Section: Health and Psycho-social Effects Of Covid-19 On Female Congo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This reveals how intersections of refugee status, race and gender collide in South Africa's healthcare sector, exacerbating the vulnerabilities experienced by Congolese female refugees. To put this into context, since 1994 globalization has created opportunities for white nurses in South Africa to emigrate to the UK, Australia or the US as a form of upward social mobility, while leading to the casualization of refugee and asylum-seeking women's roles in the sector through the use of labor brokers (Hull, 2010;Olojede and Rispel, 2015).…”

Section: Health and Psycho-social Effects Of Covid-19 On Female Congo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and its Effects on the Lives and Livelihoods of Congolese Female Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the City of Cape Town

Mulu

2021

AHMR

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This paper explores the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives and livelihoods of Congolese female asylum seekers and refugees living in Cape Town. It is framed around the assumption that this group of women exist at the intersection of multiple forms of vulnerability by virtue of their migrant status, gender, race, and social class. The study adopted a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. One-onone in-depth interviews were conducted with seven female asylum seekers and refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, using a semi-structured interview guide. Drawing on a feminist intersectional framework, the findings revealed that containment measures imposed by the South African government to curb the spread of COVID-19 significantly increased asylum-seeking and refugee women's care roles in homes, while rendering paid work more precarious. We argue that resilience strategies adopted by these women during the pandemic varied, depending on their demographic and socioeconomic status, educational level, nature of employment or entrepreneurial activity and their residency status in South Africa. This article concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing inequalities experienced by female Congolese asylum seekers and refugees and created new ones, with long-term implications for their lives and livelihoods.

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“…I understand agency work to be partially ‘informal’ because there is no formal agreement between the employer and the nurse; the relationship is mediated by the broker. Also, employees are not always protected by labour laws (Olojede and Rispel 2015: 2).…”

Section: Middle-class Aspiration In a Time Of Austeritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Going up or getting out? Professional insecurity and austerity in the South African health sector

Hull¹

2020

Africa

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As a precondition of belonging, professionalism is often a taken-for-granted feature of being middle-class. Yet ethnographic attention to experiences of work reveals that professional identity can be fragile. Drawing on ethnographic research among nurses in KwaZulu-Natal, this article traces the feelings of precarity about work and the ambivalence that pervades ideas of professionalism. This ambiguity arises partly out of a peculiarly South African story in which histories of professionalism are entwined with the repressive apartheid project of separate development. Many of the professionals working as teachers, nurses, lawyers and administrators today were trained in the former ‘homelands’. Practices of professionalism are entangled with those of clientelism inherited from this earlier period of homeland politics. These local histories combine with wider processes of neoliberalism, as conditions of austerity produce structural shifts towards casualization. The article traces these dynamics in the stories of two nurses and considers what may be at stake politically as middle-class trajectories are threatened. Moving away from a view of the middle classes as either democratic or anti-democratic, feelings of ambivalence about work make questions of political allegiance an ambiguous and fraught matter.

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Exploring the characteristics of nursing agencies in South Africa

Cited by 6 publications

References 18 publications

Transforming nursing policy, practice and management in South Africa

Transforming nursing policy, practice and management in South Africa

COVID-19 and its Effects on the Lives and Livelihoods of Congolese Female Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the City of Cape Town

Going up or getting out? Professional insecurity and austerity in the South African health sector

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