| Year | History and Achievements: |
| 1983 | South Coast Hospice was established in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, focusing on a home care programme for terminally ill people living between Mtwalume in the north to Port Edward in the south and as far inland as Harding in the Ugu District. |
| 1986 | The service was expanded with the introduction of a rural outreach programme to provide holistic pain and symptom control to terminally ill people living in the outlying rural areas. South Coast Hospice worked closely with Primary Health Care clinics, by empowering primary health care nurses with palliative nursing skills and providing them with ongoing training and backup. |
| 1992 | In liaison with the National Peace Accord Trust, the South Coast Hospice Trauma Support Network was established in response to the violence associated with political unrest. Volunteers from the community were trained jointly by South Coast Hospice and the National Peace Accord Trust to debrief and empower victims of violence so as to facilitate as normal a grieving process as possible. Until the early nineties more than 90% of patients were referred with advanced malignancies. Since then the number of HIV+ patients has insidiously superseded Cancer as the predominant diagnosis and currently people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) account for approximately 95% of the total patient population. |
| 1994 | Kingfisher House, In-patient Unit, opened on 22nd October 1994. |
| 1996 | In response to the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic, South Coast Hospice developed the Integrated Community-based Home Care (ICHC) model. The ICHC model was so successful that it was later adopted by the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (HPCA), and was written up by the Department of Health in their “Best Practice” report series. |
| 1999 | South Coast Hospice awarded a two-year tender by the National Department of Health, to establish Port Shepstone as a pilot site for HIV/AIDS/TB/STD research. |
| 2000 | The “Memory Box project” was introduced. |
| 2001 | The specialised Children’s Team was established through funding sourced from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
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| 2001 | Accredited by HPCA and found to comply with clinical standards of care. |
| 2002 | Won an Impumelelo Gold award for excellence and dedication in the fields of poverty alleviation and community development.
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| 2002 | ICHC adopted by HPCA as their model for home-based care and as such forms the core component of the HPCA mentorship programme.
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| 2002 | The Training Centre officially opened, sponsored by The Community Care Centres.
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| 2003 | ICHC featured in a number of prominent publications, including “Home based HIV/AIDS care”, edited by Uys and Cameron; published by Oxford University Press. |
| 2004 | In conjunction with the University of Natal and ECI, compiled and piloted a paediatric palliative care course at community level; this was made available to HPCA. |
| 2004 | The organisation’s training division received full accreditation from the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA), providing learners with a nationally recognised certificate.
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| 2004 | In conjunction with Save the Children UK, developed a course for trained community caregivers incorporating Anti Retroviral support into home-based care. This has been made available to the National Department of Health.
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| 2004 | In November, South Coast Hospice underwent an initial comprehensive survey by the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (Cohsasa) in conjunction with HPCA. |
| 2005 | Building and opening of the South Coast Hospice Resource Centre, sponsored by Community Care Centres, an indispensable adjunct to the training division. |
| 2006 | After a comprehensive survey, granted full accreditation by Cohsasa in conjunction with HPCA |
| 2007 | In January 2007, South Coast Hospice signed a memorandum of understanding with the antiretroviral clinic at Murchison Hospital. A specialised team of caregivers and a registered nurse visit the patients who are on the programme at Murchison Hospital, in their homes, to provide added support. |
| 2008 | The training division received re-accreditation from HWSETA, effectively enabling South Coast Hospice to continue to provide learners with a nationally recognised certificate. |
| 2008 | Cohsasa Accreditation survey was conducted; South Coast Hospice effectively re-accredited for a period of a further three years. (A final result of 99.46% was achieved.) |
| 2008 | In 2004 South Coast Hospice received funding from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to “enhance the care of HIV/AIDS infected and affected patients in resource-constrained settings in KwaZulu-Natal.” The project, which included participation from no less than fourteen sites within the province of KwaZulu-Natal, was successfully completed in December 2008; more than 17 400 patients received palliative home based care. South Coast Hospice was responsible for the administration, monitoring, supervision and support services of this 5-year project in its entirety. |
| 2009 | The second mobile Children’s Team was established, to complement the comprehensive Orphaned and Vulnerable Children Programme, through funding from The DG Murray Trust. |
| 2010 | Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority conducted an external audit on 8 December 2010 and the training division received re-accreditation for a further five years from HWSETA, effectively enabling South Coast Hospice to continue to provide learners with a nationally recognised certificate. |
