{"id":840876,"date":"2025-10-24T10:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840876"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:28:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:28:54","slug":"one-state-hospital-in-south-africa-offers-world-class-medical-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/840876\/one-state-hospital-in-south-africa-offers-world-class-medical-care\/","title":{"rendered":"One state hospital in South Africa offers world-class medical care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town has been awarded European Society For Medical Oncology (ESMO) accreditation for its world-class oncology and palliative care teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state hospital, operating under the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, received the accreditation at the ESMO Congress in Berlin last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award recognises the hospital\u2019s excellence in providing compassionate, multidisciplinary care to patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also puts the hospital in an exclusive international network of healthcare centres that offer world-class treatment and care for cancer patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groote Schuur is the only hospital in South Africa with the ESMO accreditation, which is valid from 2026 to 2028. There are 284 ESMO-accredited hospitals globally, with Italy having the most (46).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accreditation process assesses the quality of symptom management, communication, teamwork, education, and research, and affirms that Groote Schuur meets the highest international standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor Zainab Mohamed, the clinical head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Groote Schuur Hospital, said that the accreditation is a significant milestone for the centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt validates years of teamwork and commitment to ensuring that every patient receives holistic care\u2014treatment that addresses not just the disease, but the person behind it,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groote Schuur Hospital is one of three central hospitals in the Western Cape and admits more than 50,000 inpatients and treats over half a million outpatients each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research in Cape Town shows that 16% of hospitalised patients live with a life-limiting condition, representing more than 8,000 patients annually at Groote Schuur who require palliative care support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, the hospital\u2019s dedicated palliative care team managed 1,426 new patient consultations, a number that continues to rise as the service expands its reach and capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oncology Unit sees about 3,000 new cancer patients annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital offers a full clinical oncology service, including medical oncology, radiotherapy, survivorship care and palliative care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital established its multidisciplinary team in 2014, combining palliative care specialists, oncologists, professional nurses, health and rehabilitation workers, administrators, spiritual caregivers, and social workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital\u2019s palliative care service provides pain and symptom relief, counselling for patients and families, bereavement guidance, and training for healthcare professionals and students across departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that plans are underway to strengthen bereavement care, expand counselling spaces, and enhance staff training programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital recently upgraded its oncology and chemotherapy facilities and is also launching other new facilities in 2026, including a new emergency centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictures of Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Groote Schuur’s upgraded chemo facilities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Groote Schuur’s upgraded oncology equipment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Groote Schuur Palliative Care Staff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town has received international accreditation for its world-class palliative care and oncology teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":840883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[23907],"class_list":["post-840876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-groote-schuur-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840876"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840900,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840876\/revisions\/840900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}