Gauteng visit

The National Accreditation Manager was able to spend a week in Gauteng between 2-9 May.

There were a few key learnings that stood out for me during this visit. Once again, the identification and management of risk appears to remain a challenge for many organisations. I will be discussing some ideas with colleagues to see if we can identify some helpful tools that will assist the members in their management of risk.

Care plans also remain a challenge along with quality improvement. I am hoping to arrange some virtual training on these topics for the second half of the year.

If anyone has some useful tools that they can share, please send them through to me. Along with these tools and training, I will be exploring the establishment of a resource of tools, policy, guidelines and related documents on the APCC website.

I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to so many people who made me feel so very welcome.

The role of APCC in ensuring the quality of the Palliative Care services provided by our members is vital. Quality care has a direct impact on patient outcomes, has a direct impact on the value of our mission to family, friends and communities and this impacts on income generation and sustainability.

WCCC site visit
COHSASA survey - Steppingstone 2
COHSASA survey - Steppingstone 1

Stepping Stone Hospice

The primary purpose of this visit was to provide support to Stepping Stone Hospice who were undergoing a COHSASA survey.

I was able to spend 1.5 days at Stepping Stone and was able to assess the implementation of the 5th edition of the Palliative Healthcare Standards.

Some issues were noted and these will be addressed by the Standards Review Committee at our next meeting.

In general, the 5th edition of the Standards was well received and Stepping Stone is to be complimented on their implementation of these standards.

The COHSASA technical committee will meet in August to deliberate on the outcome of this survey.

We continue to wish the team at Stepping Stone Hospice well.

Potential members

I was able to interact with two sites who have applied for membership of APCC.

A site in Randfontein and a site in Primrose.

Both these sites are making good use of the Organisational Self-Assessment tool and using the Standards to lay the foundation for the services that they provide or plan to provide.

It was encouraging to see such enthusiasm for Palliative Care by potential new members and their commitment to the implementation of the Standards.

Members in Johannesburg

In concluding my week in Gauteng, I was able to visit three members in the City of Johannesburg.

Time was taken to encourage these members in their use of the Standards and to prepare and submit their Organisational Self-Assessment.