Overstrand Hospice
In the week 20 to 24 April, Warren Oxford-Huggett was in the Western Cape. The primary purpose of this visit was to conduct a COHSASA survey at Overstrand Hospice.
A survey by COHSASA can be stressful, particularly if it is your first such survey as an organisation. The Overstrand team are to be commended for their thorough and systematic approach to this survey, and their commitment was evident in what was observed. The intensity of the interactions of a 1 and a half days by three focused surveyors can be a little intimidating.
Stellenbosch and Tygerberg Hospices
In addition to the COHSASA survey at Overstrand, Warren was able to visit both Stellenbosch Hospice and Tygerberg Hospice. In both cases, these organisations are unique in different ways. Stellenbosch Hospice operates on the Stellenbosch Hospital premises and has a 12-bed unit within the hospital. Their IPU is part of the hospital, and the relationship benefits both parties. There is also a good relationship with Stellenbosch University. A Home-Based Care programme is also operational.
Tygerberg Hospice Trust has a number of programmes running, including a palliative home care programme and a 7-room IPU for palliative care patients. There is a very large transitional care facility (about 40 beds with capacity for another 10) that is run in conjunction with the Western Cape Department of Health and a very large traditional Home-based care programme that is not primarily palliative in nature. Each of these programmes has its own management team, with organisational management, Human Resources, and Risk centralised, along with fundraising activities.
Palliative care is not singular and should be adaptive to various contexts. Whether it is the traditional palliative home care programme or IPU programme or any manner of variations. Palliative care is applicable to anyone suffering from a serious illness; how it is applied is variable and accommodating to different contexts and situations. This is the value of being a member of APCC, where we can learn from one another and share our different practices as examples of how we are caring for those most in need.