People who care
supporting people who care
Palliative Care for Children South Africa (PatchSA) is an inclusive and compassionate network that aims to share specialised knowledge, tools, resources and opportunities to ensure the best possible care for children with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses, and to provide support to healthcare professionals, families and lay caregivers.
A registered non-profit organisation. NPO no: 124-201;
And a Public Benefit Organisation. PBO no: 930047744

Hats On 4 Children’s Palliative Care Day
Take part in the global Hats On 4 Children’s Palliative Care Day by wearing a hat on Friday 13 October, posting pictures using the hashtag #HatsOn4CPC and donating to PatchSA. We’re also running our annual CHARITY COMPETITION where you can win money for your charity!
We’re also running our annual #HATSON4CPC CHARITY COMPETITION where R6000 in cash prizes is up for grabs for any children’s charity or any palliative care focused charity!
Leading on Paediatric Palliative Care in South Africa by Supporting Communities, Families & Healthcare Providers
PatchSA welcomes any families, lay caregivers and child-caring professional including paediatricians, GPs, nurses, social workers, allied health practitioners, psychologists, teachers, clergy etc to join the network.
Join Us
Become a member. PatchSA welcomes family members, caregivers, child-caring and healthcare professionals to join the network.
Support Us
Help us help children with life-threatening and non-curable illnesses, and their families, to have the best quality life possible.
Subscribe
Receive our monthly email newsletters with the latest news and events relevant to children’s palliative care in South Africa.
About Us
O
ur Vision
To ensure the right of every child to access quality palliative care in South Africa.
Our Mission
To mobilise and support a sustainable network of individuals, organisations, professionals and caregivers to provide palliative care for children and their families from diagnosis to bereavement as an essential component of Universal Health Coverage.
Our Objectives
PatchSA is a Non-Profit Organisation (NGO) and a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) established for the following objectives which can be categorised using the acronym R.A.I.S.E. :
Research
To drive the research agenda for evidence-based children’s palliative care in our country and other sub-Saharan African countries.
Advocacy
To be a strong collaborative voice for the right of children to receive quality palliative care. To influence policy development in children’s palliative care. To advocate for the integration of palliative care into all children’s services.
Information
To be a source of information on children’s palliative care and service providers. To develop and promote locally appropriate guidelines and standards for children’s palliative care.
Support
To ensure the voice of the child and family informs all activities of the network. To promote care for the caregiver.
Education & Resources
To provide evidence-based and culturally relevant education and resources on children’s palliative care for professionals and caregivers. Find our online courses at www.academy.patchsa.org
Download our brochure: PatchSA Brochure 2023
What we do
PatchSA is a national network that focuses on supporting the provision of palliative care to an estimated 800,000 – 1,000,000 children living in South Africa with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, and their families.
We do this in the following ways:
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Support:
We work to ensure the voice of the child and family informs all activities of our network. We also promote care and support for health care providers, parents and caregivers providing day to day care to children with palliative care needs.
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Advocacy:
We are a strong collaborative voice for the right of children to receive quality palliative care. We have an active Advocacy Committee that aims to influence policy development in children’s palliative care and to advocate for the integration of palliative care into all children’s services and relevant healthcare facilities.
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Information:
We are a recognised source of trusted information and resources on children’s palliative care in South Africa for health care practitioners and service providers within and beyond our borders. In 2020 we were thrilled to announce, in collaboration with Bettercare, the launch of our book: Palliative Care for Children – A guide for improving the quality of life of patients and their families which can be purchased from our website or read online on the Bettercare site.We are in the process of updating Clinical Guidelines and standards for children’s palliative care in South Africa.
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Education:
We provide evidence-based education in children’s palliative care for professionals and caregivers through the education branch of PatchSA, Patch Academy. Patch Academy is an online training platform created as an educational resource for all members of the multidisciplinary team who provide care to babies, toddlers, children and young adults with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses and conditions and to their families. This could include but is not limited to paediatricians, doctors, nurses, social workers, pastors and other spiritual leaders, psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, art and music therapists. However, the certificate courses are open to anyone with a desire to know more about the practice and delivery of neonatal, perinatal and children’s palliative care. No previous qualification is required.
We also provide face-to-face training and workshops where possible.
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Research:
We contribute to, participate in and signpost research relevant to children’s palliative care in order to drive the research agenda for evidence-based children’s palliative care, particularly as it pertains to South Africa and other Low and Middle Income Countries.
Read Our Annual Reports
Our Funds Procurement Manager
Malcolm Kling
Funds Procurement Manager
Malcolm has brought his vast experience in fundraising, marketing and sales, together with his passion, energy and single-minded devotion to causes advancing children’s health and care, to the PatchSA team, which he joined in the second half of 2021. Malcolm’s original training and experience was in business administration, financial management and accounting, followed by over 19 years in marketing and sales. In February 2003, Malcolm was appointed as Funds Procurement Manager of the Tygerberg Children’s Hospital Trust, during which time he also served on the School Governing Body and the Finance Committee of Tygerberg Hospital School. During the ensuing more than 16 years, Malcolm developed enormous passion for and devotion to fundraising for the benefit of less fortunate children and newborn babies, witnessing the life-changing enhancement of their healthcare through investment of funds in upgrading facilities and purchasing essential medical equipment.
Malcolm has realised the enormous challenges and many shortcomings in the provision of children’s palliative care in South Africa, and is inspired to procure funds needed to enable PatchSA to achieve its important objectives.
Malcolm resides in beautiful Cape Town and has two adult children and a grandchild.
Our PatchSA Youth Ambassador
Huyaam Samuels is our Youth Ambassador. She has herself battled with a lifelong condition that causes her constant pain, dislocations or subluxations due to her rare condition, which requires daily medication. Her journey was not an easy one, with her pain being dismissed by doctors and her condition not being fully understood. Imagine seeing doctors, specialists and being told there’s nothing wrong with you or nothing can be done or a direct quote from one of the specialists she saw “I chop people up and put them back together” and as a thirteen-year-old walking out of the room with that in her mind.
It was only when Huyaam met Dr Michelle Meiring, chairperson of PatchSA and CEO of Paedspal Paediatric Palliative Care, at the age of thirteen years old she found a doctor/specialist who was prepared to listen to her and believe that she was indeed suffering from chronic pain.
Huyaam was Dr Meiring’s patient for six years years and agreed to become the PatchSA Youth Ambassador due to her commitment to palliative care and a burning desire to raise awareness of palliative care and be a voice for those who were suffering.
Although one may not be able to see her condition or disability, it doesn’t make it any less real. She struggles with sleeping due to pain flare-ups, sometimes hospital admissions are necessary when flare ups become very bad and her whole-body spasms and her pain can be debilitating.
She is a past pupil of Livingstone High School in Claremont, Cape Town, and graduated with an honours degree in Psychology from the University of Cape Town in 2022.
CLICK HERE to watch a video of Huyaam talking about how palliative care changed her life.
At the launch of the South African Children’s Palliative Care Network in 2012 were from left to right, Joan Marston, Dr Kaliah Johnson, Dr Michelle Meiring and Cindy Illing
How it all began
- The development of a palliative care network for children in South Africa (SA) was the brainchild of Mrs Joan Marston who set up the Paediatric Sub Committee while working at the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (HPCA) and is the past Chief Executive and Global Ambassador of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN).
- The intention to set up a children’s network was presented to the Palliative Care Society of South Africa (PCSSA) by Dr Michelle Meiring in October 2008.
- In 2009 the Hospice Palliative Care Association (HPCA), with funding support from the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (DPOWMF), established a virtual resource centre for children’s palliative care (known as the Baobab PPC website) and also developed community based centres of excellence (known as Beacon centres).
- By 2010 the Bigshoes Foundation had developed hospital-based Paediatric palliative care teams in three provinces (Gauteng, KZN and Western Cape)
- In February 2012 HPCA, ICPCN and the Bigshoes Foundation met to discuss how they could work together to extend the reach of quality children’s palliative care in SA and formed the South African Children’s Palliative Care Alliance.
- One of the goals of the alliance was to set up the South African Children’s Palliative Care Network (SACPCN).
- The SACPCN was officially launched at the 25th Anniversary conference of the HPCA in September 2012.
- The network’s new name, PatchSA, was officially presented on the 18th of September 2013 to the palliative care community at the joint HPCA and African Palliative Care Association (APCA) conference in Johannesburg.
Original PatchSA Committee members met in Cape Town in September 2014
L to R: Cindy Illing, Dr Michelle Meiring, Joan Marston, Dr Julia Ambler, Tracey Brand, Annanda Bothma, and Sue Boucher
Looking to the future
On 25 April 2023 a Strategic Planning meeting was held at Rondebosch Medical Centre in Cape Town which brought together, for the very first time, members of the board, staff members and consultants – all of whom contribute to keeping PatchSA relevant and ensure that we are fulfilling our mission to ensure the right of every child to access quality palliative care in South Africa.
Learn online through the Patch Academy
Patch Academy is the education branch of PatchSA. It is an online learning platform created as an educational resource for all members of the multidisciplinary palliative care team providing care to babies, toddlers, children and young adults with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses and conditions and to their families. All Patch Academy courses are CPD accredited through the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) with General and Ethics CPD points. Try our FREE course Introducing Children’s Palliative Care and earn 5 General CEU’s.
Perinatal Palliative Care: A guide to supporting families when a baby is at high risk of dying before or shortly after birth is a useful and easy to read guide on the key elements of perinatal palliative care written for midwives, nurses, doctors, social workers and anyone who provides care for families when a baby is diagnosed with a life-limiting condition in pregnancy or soon after delivery. The book can also be read for free online on the Bettercare website.
Palliative Care for Children: A guide for improving the quality of life of patients and their families is a useful and easy to read guide on the key elements of children’s palliative care written for doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, counsellors, spiritual leaders, teachers, therapists and anyone who interacts with and provides care for seriously ill children. The book can also be read for free online on the Bettercare website.
Read our latest news
PatchSA is the only national organisation providing strategic support to healthcare professionals, allied healthcare practitioners and parents and lay caregivers in South Africa. Our diverse membership represents those who provide palliative care services to children around the country and we do our best to keep you up to date on what is happening in the field both within our borders and internationally. Read our latest news and stories and subscribe to our monthly newsletter if you want to be kept informed.
Find a children’s palliative care provider in South Africa
There are several services in South Africa dedicated to providing palliative care to children but these are inadequate to meet the growing need for paediatric palliative care provision on all levels. A number of predominantly adult hospices also have staff equipped and trained to provide hospice and palliative care services to babies, toddlers, children and adolescents. We have conveniently mapped and listed the names of all services who can provide palliative care to children along with their relevant contact details.