It has been a productive and meaningful twelve months for PatchSA, and we are delighted to share highlights of our work, growth, and progress in our 2025 Annual Report. We hope you will take the time to explore it and learn more about our key accomplishments, which include:

  • Participation in the National Department of Health Palliative Care Policy Review Workshop
  • Co-hosting and presenting the highly successful 2nd South African Palliative Care Conference in Durban, in collaboration with Palprac and APCC
  • Publication of the Durban Declaration
  • Continued strengthening of perinatal palliative care expertise through workshops and the piloting of a comprehensive three-month online course
  • Presentation of our third nine-month comprehensive course in paediatric palliative care
  • Delivery of several impactful awareness-raising and fundraising initiatives

Some of the pages found in the report:

Look back with us on a year of growth and new milestones in our recently published 2025 Annual Report. We are a small but dedicated team at PatchSA, determined to increase the number of healthcare providers in South Africa who know when and how to offer palliative care to very sick children and their families.

Many of our major achievements are summed up in the report from our outgoing chairperson, Dr Samantha Govender.

Report from the chairperson

It has been an intense and significant year for PatchSA. We have successfully migrated to a Non-Profit Company, and the Voluntary Association is being phased out gradually.

At the beginning of the year we were devastated by the sad and unexpected passing of our Vice Chair, Dr Mehnaaz Ally. Mehnaaz was passionate about paediatric palliative care and was providing much needed services in both the public and private sectors in Johannesburg. She inspired many of her peers, colleagues, and even parents of her patients to become advocates for paediatric palliative care. This inspiration led to some of her colleagues currently completing our 9-month online course in her honour. We mourn the loss of such a shining light within our community.

We are grateful to Mrs Busi Nkosi for stepping into the role of Vice Chair and for her assistance in rolling out our new webinar series which commenced in July 2025. Thus far we have hosted two webinars with knowledgeable speakers such as Dr Michelle Meiring, Sr Joan Marston, and Kelly Du Plessis from Rare Diseases SA. They were well received and will continue in 2026.

This year we also bade farewell to Mrs Thaaniyah Gydien and welcomed Dr Nicolette Brown-Jooste to our Board.

The PatchSA and Patch Academy websites are frequently visited and to date we have had over 4,600 people registering to take one or more of our online courses. Our Comprehensive 9-month Course in Paediatric Palliative Care this year has welcomed participants from 10 countries including Norway, England, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ireland and Bhutan. Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive. The growing popularity of the course is due to it being affordable, accessible, convenient and most importantly it equips healthcare providers with the knowledge and skills to provide holistic and compassionate care to seriously ill children, and their families.

The 2025 HATSON4CPC campaign was special and great fun, as always. PatchSA and Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children hosted the second HatsOn4CPC Family Fun Walk along the Durban beachfront promenade. Despite the rain, it was a most successful event with positive feedback and much enthusiasm.

PatchSA was invited to provide input for the National Palliative Care Policy Review in Pretoria in May 2025. Although we were a small group of people speaking on behalf of the children, we suggested significant changes to the policy that we hope will impact positively on future paediatric palliative care provision in South Africa.

Education opportunities

Perinatal palliative care has been gaining momentum and the workshops we have co-hosted in KZN and the Western Cape have provided much insight, enabling hospitals to start their own perinatal palliative care programmes. We also hosted a perinatal palliative care workshop at the 43rd Conference on Priorities in Perinatal Care in Durban and Tracy Rawlins presented at the Sensitive Midwifery symposium in Cape Town. This year PatchSA launched a pilot 3-month Comprehensive Perinatal Palliative Care course with 54 healthcare professionals registered. We know these efforts will make a meaningful difference to the journey of parents facing uncertainty after a diagnosis of a life-threatening condition for an unborn or newly born baby.

In June PatchSA, together with Palprac, and APCC, organized and hosted a most successful second South African Palliative Care Conference in Durban. It was hailed as a highly successful conference with the inclusion of both local and international speakers and presenters. The information shared was most valuable and we were pleased and encouraged by the excellent feedback received from delegates.

Malcolm Kling, our Funds Procurement Officer, has been making steadfast progress behind the scenes to secure crucial funding for PatchSA. He has dedicated enormous effort and time in organising the auction or sale of 2 South African Rugby Jerseys signed by every Springbok Rugby Captain since 1960, and we wish him success in this endeavour to secure significant funding for our organisation.

Footprints4Sam has continued to provide generous support in the form of bursaries for participants of both our comprehensive courses. We are so thankful for their assistance for passionate individuals who don’t have the funds but want to learn how to make a difference in a child and family’s journey in palliative care.

Thank you to the team

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful team of individuals who go above and beyond to ensure that the principles of children’s palliative care are planted deeply. within our healthcare system. Despite being a small team, they have managed to uphold the ethos of the organisation, making sure that PatchSA is recognised as a leading professional national organisation in South Africa.

I salute Sue Boucher, our Programme and Communications Manager, Tracy Rawlins, our Education & Training Manager, and Aimée Kinsley, our Admin & Financial Manager as well as our bookkeeper, Margaret Louw. You have been monumental in upholding the values of PatchSA; the number of selfless hours you have all put in is admirable and greatly appreciated.
My heartfelt thanks to all our Board members, I know every little detail counts and I have seen the positive outcomes that your endeavours have made to children’s palliative care in your areas and beyond.

We have come a long way as an organisation, as evidenced by our growing population of members, scholars, and advocates. A seed planted 12 years ago is now sprouting in so many ways that will benefit thousands of patients and families in need of paediatric palliative care.

Let your passion ignite the path, every step forward is a victory in progress.

Dr Samantha Govender
Outgoing Chairperson