Bloemfontein

Interactions were held with the National District and Universitas Academic Hospitals as well as the Oncology department. Referrals from the state come from these hospitals.

The IDT meeting at Hospice Bloemfontein was supported and the value of these meetings in ensuring quality palliative care was reiterated. The discussions about patients (and families), their challenges and opportunities were discussed in detail.

Inter-disciplinary team care is one of the hallmarks of palliative care and all our members are reminded of this and encouraged to make the most of volunteer participation, the inclusion of professionals from a variety of professions and ensure that discussions are well documented and patient files kept up to date.

Our Inter-disciplinary teams are going to be different, but we can all tap into the resources available to us.

There was substantial discussion about the potential value of developing provincial (and possible national) Memoranda of Understanding with the Department of Health. This will be explored in more detail.

Members and provincial associations will be consulted.

Lesotho

A special visit was made to Starlight Oasis Hospice in Lesotho, which is a member of the African Palliative Care Association (APCA) to offer support and to engage in discussions. The Hospice is not yet accepting patients whilst they set up operations.

This will be the only palliative care service provider in Lesotho, and they have a particularly good relationship with the Ministry of Health. While in Lesotho, we took the opportunity to visit Dr Mobashshar Hassan, Palliative Care lead in the Senkatana Oncology clinic in Maseru.  Lesotho has a agreement with the Free State Department of Health  to refer all patients in need of specialized care to the Universitas Academic Hospital.   It is intended that all patients needing palliative care services in Lesotho will be referred to Starlight Oasis Hospice (when they are operational).

This was an eye-opening experience with some profound learning in the art of communication around life threatening illnesses.

Welkom

The trip to Welkom resulted in meetings with Goldfields Hospice (not a member of the APCC) and various individuals who are assisting in the provision of both state and private palliative care in the area.

There is significant potential in Welkom for the development and expansion of palliative care services by linking these role players.

Hospice Bloemfontein

The APCC Accreditation Manager (Warren Oxford-Huggett) spent the week before Easter working with palliative care teams and organisations in the Free State.

In particular, time was taken to work closely with Hospice Bloemfontein, helping them with the development of policies and procedures and providing some direction on various questions raised by the team.

Sr. Margriet Kenney and Hanneke Lubbe (Chairperson of the Free State Association) were both participants at the COHSASA survey training earlier in 2025 and worked alongside Warren to better understand some of the processes involved in the accreditation programme.

The time together culminated in the weekly IDT meeting, which Warren participated in.

The value and importance of teamwork in providing quality palliative care were evident during this time, and creative thinking towards problems encountered is to be complimented and highlighted as best practice.

The model of providing palliative care in the Free State is well managed and has wide acceptance with both private patients as well as state patients.

Welkom visit

A second day of the visit was spent in Welkom. Two sites were visited that included a new site that is applying for membership as a Palliative IPU.

This site is under the leadership of a nurse who believes that nothing is impossible and her ‘can do’ attitude is infectious. The site has some development ahead of it, before it begins the Organisational Self-Assessment process, but we look forward in the future to welcoming them alongside other member organisations in the Free State.

A second visit to a well-established Hospice in Welkom was also undertaken where Hanneke and Warren facilitated a meeting between various Palliative Care role players, Hospice, DoH and the potential new Palliative IPU.

Additional interaction is needed here, and support will be provided over the next few weeks to see how this co-operative approach to providing Palliative Care to many who need it can be fostered.

Lesedi Place of Hope

A third day was spent meeting with the board and management team of Lesedi Place of Hope. This Palliative Care centre (a member of APCC) is outside of Bloemfontein and has been hard hit by cuts in funding and some very serious vandalism.

At the moment, no services are being provided here. The board and management team are new and are beginning to make some progress towards compliance with both the APCC Standards for Palliative Healthcare Services as well as legislative requirements as an NPO.

The facilities (despite being vandalised) are a potential point of service delivery for a very needy community. There are two 9-bed wards and the potential to equip and open a 5-bed IPU. The team’s discussion focused on developing alternative sources of income for Lesedi as many of the more traditional sources of income have become very scarce.

University of the Free State and District Hospital

Additional time was spent with the Palliative Care team that operates out of the University of the Free State, where time was spent discussing potential models of delivering Palliative Care. Further time was spent at the District Hospital with a nurse who has been trained in Palliative Care (the CCPN course) and helps Hospice Bloemfontein with both state and private patients. A visit to Sunflower Home has been planned as well.