Stepping Stone Palliative Care Services, where care meets compassion, is governed by strict policies and standards, demonstrating its commitment to providing comprehensive care.

Stepping Stone Palliative Care Services is the only Association of Palliative Care Centres (APCC) five-star accredited hospice in Gauteng.

We are committed to promoting quality palliative healthcare and providing a safe environment for our patients and the Alberton community.

Since opening our doors in January 2013, we have positively impacted scores of people’s lives. We have assisted more than 3 000 of our patients with dignity and care, excluding their families.

Our staff are trained in palliative care, ensuring patients’ quality of life and preventing and relieving unnecessary suffering. As much as we are a do-good organisation, making a distinct impact on the lives of our patients and their families, it goes beyond that.

We piloted the fifth edition of Palliative Care Standards and are awaiting feedback from the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) to ensure the edition complies with its criteria.

Once reviewed and approved, it will go to the International Society for Quality in Healthcare, making us more rigorous and self-critical as a non-profit organisation.

Exceptional quality recognition

Our CEO, Tersia Burger, said we don’t tell people enough about how professional we are.

“There’s such a misconception that because hospices are non-profits, we offer inferior care, and nothing is further from the truth. Our registered nurses have all done the same training as any nurse in any hospital. They have the same certification in midwifery, emergency, surgery, intensive care and general training,” she explained.

Our skilled nurses then undergo a one-year training course to provide palliative care.

Tersia, who is also the deputy chairperson of the APCC, formerly known as the Hospice Palliative Care Association, reiterated that we adhere to good governance principles.

“Palliative care is an accredited discipline like COHSASA, and every four years, we develop new standards to stay up to date with the changes and legislation, and I’m a member of that standard review committee. We have at least 619 policies that must be in place, starting with governance, human resources, clinical, infection control, risk management, fundraising and training,” she said.

Even in how we handle our laundry, there are such strict criteria, and waste management is a huge component.

She said waste management is the most fascinating part. We continue to prioritise proper waste management.

“Soiled nappies in a high-volume facility like ours cannot be discarded in a rubbish dump. A waste management company must handle it. They come in about three times weekly to remove the waste. We get special bins for our sharps [injections, needles], and it’s a controlled system. Every component with us is critical,” Tersia said.

Once a year, we present our signed-off financials to the APCC.

Nearing our 12th anniversary, we remain committed to offering compassionate, comforting and holistic care to all our patients – young and old.