Following the 23 July 2024 meeting with HWSETA and the focus group, I am still trying to avoid the cattle call / mass application that must happen if QCTO and HWSETA change the QCTO first aid skills program titles and then require all first aid training SDPs to re-apply. Also, information about the name changes NDOH and HPCSA are enforcing, how it is being managed, whether or not SDP input gets due consideration, and other notes about this ongoing saga.
I am beginning to lack confidence in the ability of the QCTO and HWSETA to be confident and competent custodians of the three skills programs SP230801, 230802, 230803.
This is specifically about their inability to settle on program titles (names), over time. The titles of the three first aid programs are important because as Lufuno Thovhakale at QCTO states, changing the titles means all SDP’s must re-apply for the first aid programs as if they are new programs even if there is little or no change to the content of the curricula. I.e. the burden and cost of this change will be passed on to the SDP in the form of a massive ‘cattle call’ to re-apply for accreditation SDPs already have, because of a QCTO admin process.
HPCSA and NDOH are enforcing their proposed title changes to the three first aid programs, and QCTO and HWSETA have effectively agreed to change them to whatever HPCSA and NDOH want. The focus group that developed the curricula has tried to challenge or even discuss the title change issue with NDOH and HPCSA together with HWSETA and QCTO but that door is firmly shut, HWSETA and QCTO have agreed to change the titles regardless of what we say.
Now it has now become “the floor is lava” trying to come up with new titles that stay clear of words the NDOH and HPCSA are offended by. We are talking about common English words like “emergency” and “basic” that are objectively and neutrally descriptive of these programs. Because so many words are banned the process of trying to come up with titles for these programs with the few remaining “approved words” has all become a bit too Monty Python.
And it does not matter anyway, because any title change at all means cattle call and they already decided to do a title change to remove the word “emergency” that appears in all three programs.
This distinction is extremely important. There are two issues here. The “content issue” is distinctly different from the “titles issue”.
This distinction is extremely important. Also see other articles on this website about this.
It hopes to prevent the cattle call. It hopes to achieve this by:
Motivating the QCTO and HWSETA to consider leaving the titles as they are. After all, it was HWSETA and QCTO that decided to veto the titles the focus group gave these programs, and replace them (without consulting us) with their own titles, that are now flagged by HPCSA and NDOH…
Or, alternatively:
If QCTO and HWSETA must change the titles, they can pick up the tab for it instead of ‘going to the bathroom when the bill arrives’. What I mean is, if they must change the titles, they must find a way to do it where the SDP does not carry the cost and administrative burden of it. The way its going, SDPs will be picking up the tab and that needs to be prevented.
I.e. Do it without the cattle call or do not do it at all. QCTO and HWSETA must make a decision on this, and disclose that to the public, because SDP’s need this information to plan and make decisions.
From what QCTO and HWSETA have said this is how I understand it:
Given the above, one could conclude that it is probably not currently under review but is in discussion. There are signs as to where this is going though. And when it has arrived there, SDP’s will not be asked what they think, they will simply be instructed to comply.
HWSETA, at the beginning of the 23 July 2024 meeting about this saga asked if all information discussed can be confidential. I understood that as being directed at me and hinting that my website cannot inform the public of what is going on because this process has not yet been concluded. I put my hand up and said, no, I will not agree to that. If anything I have said on my website is unfair or untrue, let me know, I will remove it. That is a promise. But I will not censor my website to condone keeping SDP’s in the dark even if the process is in discussion, mostly because that discussion is showing clear signs of where it is heading (which is a cattle call).
If you read the article above you will see talk about the focus group that developed the curricula. That is made up of myself, and some subject matter experts who are also SDP’s. See other articles for the list of people in the focus group. It is a gleaming panel of experts; I hope HWSETA and QCTO know how lucky they are to have this group help them; although we started at 10 people and are now down to 3 as the saga gets boring and political and less about actual first aid, patients, and training.
The focus group includes SDP’s and is more representative of SDP interest than any other party in this process. So how is SDP representation treated?
On the two occasions the focus group told QCTO and HWSETA what we want the titles of these first aid programs to be, BOTH times HWSETA and QCTO called their own meetings excluding us, changed the titles without consultation with us, and then let us know after the fact. I implore the QCTO and HWSETA to be more respectful of us who donate time and resources to help them. I personally felt disrespected both times QCTO did this.
The first time it happened was when we submitted the programs to HWSETA and QCTO before the programs were officially released. Somewhere after we gave it to them they made changes without consulting us as described in this article. Title changes were part of the changes they made that we were not consulted about.
It is happening again now as QCTO and HWSETA call meetings with HPCSA and NDOH deliberately excluding us. I was asked to not report on this because it is ‘in discussion and not decided’. That is only partially true though. There is discussion with the focus group about titles, yes, but its about the “what” and not the “if”. What to re-title the programs to does not matter as much as if it gets re-titled. Because if it gets retitled at all that means cattle call regardless of “what” the new title is. That “if” question was already decided with the focus group deliberately excluded from the discussion. The remaining discussion is now about “what” to title the program and as such is leftovers. The “if” decision was made before we were called into the next meeting and as such we were excluded from the discussion that mattered to SDP’s and the decision was made apart from us.
I have written this article so that SDP’s can be informed, and can be aware of how these decisions are made and decide for themselves if the level of respect and consideration afforded SDPs by QCTO and HWSETA has been appropriate in this case.
