12/06/2026
Palliative care is often thought of as end-of-life comfort care. But for Groote Schuur Hospital’s René Krause, who leads the hospital's palliative care unit, it’s a service built on multidisciplinary partnerships — spanning surgery, social work, physiotherapy, community health, and hospice care — that extends from the hospital into homes across the Western Cape.
In February 2026, the Western Cape health department signed off a provincial palliative care policy formalising those partnerships. Last year, the European Society of Medical Oncology recognised the unit for its integrated work with the hospital's cancer service.
Krause spoke to Bhekisisa about what that model involves, why morphine misconceptions remain a barrier to effective pain management, and what it would take to bring this standard of care throughout the Western Cape.
The palliative care team at Groote Schuur Hospital fields questions about death and dying that the rest of the health system struggles to answer. Here’s why getting those answers right takes an entire network of people.
