Terminally ill patients at Living Hope’s hospice are being helped to meet death with dignity, regardless of their financial standing.
The Living Hope Health Care Centre, in Kommetjie Road, has just received a five-star rating with the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA). It is the only accredited sub-acute and palliative-care facility in Cape Town and it’s free. Referrals are done by a doctor.
Living Hope earned the two-year COHSASA accreditation after a six-year-long process, including an audit of the entire organisation; its structure, governance, systems, procedures and policies.
“It brings the highest possible level of credibility to the organisation,” said Living Hope founder and chairman of the board, Reverend John Thomas.
COHSASA is the only internationally accredited quality improvement and accreditation body for health-care facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
While Living Hope began in 2000 under Reverend Thomas’s direction, the hospice started in 2004.
According to Fredele Smith, the Health Care Centre manager, the 22-bed intermediate-care facility now not only includes palliative care, but also physical rehabilitation after a hospital stay, wound care, and respite care for patients whose family and carers may need a break, as the demands of caring for a family member who requires 24/7 care can take its toll.
It is Living Hope’s policy not to identify patients, but two of them spoke to the Echo on condition we did not publish their real names.
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