Our vision is to create a space for reimagining (palliative) health care and health education solutions.
What are we: we are a think tank – a space where two restless minds can shake off social and professional constraints and imagine
Vision
- We strive to be a courageous, creative, disruptive, solution finding team
- We are context and person sensitive while considering global and transdisciplinary perspectives
- We encourage collaboration in solution finding
- We commit reflecting our values in our disruption and within our solution finding
- We position our thinking in abundance rather than deficit, and draw from our experience in health care provision in South Africa
- While we are palliative healthcare providers, the principles that underpin our disruption and solution finding may have applications outside of health care and outside of palliative care
Mission
We strive to be authentic and kind.
Our work is foundational on mutual benefit – justice, fairness, respect
Values
History and Background
Craig Geoff Howes and Barbara Matthews first met at the South African Palliative Care Conference in 2023, where a conversation revealed a shared interest in making palliative care more accessible. Despite coming from vastly different clinical and geographical contexts – Craig Geoff working predominantly in inner-city practice, Barbara in rural communities in the Eastern Cape – they recognised strikingly similar challenges. In South Africa, long travel times for patients can mean something very different in each setting, yet the outcome is often the same: barriers to timely and equitable care.
Since that first meeting, they have met regularly over the past two years to explore these challenges together. Their collaboration led to the design of a new conceptual framework, the @pcPM – the Access to Palliative Care Puzzle Model, which reframes how access issues can be understood in South African healthcare. Building on this foundation, they co-authored a book that provides practical guidance on virtual health solutions for palliative care, positioning telehealth as one tool to bridge the gaps in service delivery.
Today, Craig Geoff and Barbara continue to collaborate across multiple streams of research, education, consulting, and advocacy. Their projects span from healthcare worker literacy and professional identity development to queer-affirming palliative care education and tech-integrated approaches to clinical practice. They share a deep commitment to re-imagining healthcare systems through solution-focused, person-centred, and values-driven innovation.
Their partnership is not only professional but also personal. Over time, they have grown into a thought partnership grounded in friendship, united by a love of the Eastern Cape, an appreciation for good wine, and a mutual enjoyment of grappling with complex ideas.
Together and individually, they have spoken widely on issues of access, innovation, and advocacy. Highlights include joint invited talks such as: The Puzzle Model: Integration of Telehealth to Expand Access to Palliative Care (South African Palliative Care Conference, 2025), Offering Virtual Palliative Care in South Africa (South African Congress of Oncology, 2025), and Expanding Access to Palliative Care – Learning from Remote and Hybrid Remote Settings (2024). Craig Geoff has also spoken independently on diverse topics including queer-affirming healthcare, sexuality at the end of life, pain management, and the safe integration of AI into palliative practice.
Their journey reflects an ongoing commitment to expanding the boundaries of palliative care – both in practice and in thought – with kindness and authenticity at its core.
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Vision
Our vision is to create a space for reimagining (palliative) health care and health education solutions.
What are we: we are a think tank – a space where two restless minds can shake off social and professional constraints and imagine
Mission
- We strive to be a courageous, creative, disruptive, solution finding team
- We are context and person sensitive while considering global and transdisciplinary perspectives
- We encourage collaboration in solution finding
- We commit reflecting our values in our disruption and within our solution finding
- We position our thinking in abundance rather than deficit, and draw from our experience in health care provision in South Africa
- While we are palliative healthcare providers, the principles that underpin our disruption and solution finding may have applications outside of health care and outside of palliative care
Values
We strive to be authentic and kind.
Our work is foundational on mutual benefit – justice, fairness, respect
History and Background
Craig Geoff Howes and Barbara Matthews first met at the South African Palliative Care Conference in 2023, where a conversation revealed a shared interest in making palliative care more accessible. Despite coming from vastly different clinical and geographical contexts – Craig Geoff working predominantly in inner-city practice, Barbara in rural communities in the Eastern Cape – they recognised strikingly similar challenges. In South Africa, long travel times for patients can mean something very different in each setting, yet the outcome is often the same: barriers to timely and equitable care.
Since that first meeting, they have met regularly over the past two years to explore these challenges together. Their collaboration led to the design of a new conceptual framework, the @pcPM – the Access to Palliative Care Puzzle Model, which reframes how access issues can be understood in South African healthcare. Building on this foundation, they co-authored a book that provides practical guidance on virtual health solutions for palliative care, positioning telehealth as one tool to bridge the gaps in service delivery.
Today, Craig Geoff and Barbara continue to collaborate across multiple streams of research, education, consulting, and advocacy. Their projects span from healthcare worker literacy and professional identity development to queer-affirming palliative care education and tech-integrated approaches to clinical practice. They share a deep commitment to re-imagining healthcare systems through solution-focused, person-centred, and values-driven innovation.
Their partnership is not only professional but also personal. Over time, they have grown into a thought partnership grounded in friendship, united by a love of the Eastern Cape, an appreciation for good wine, and a mutual enjoyment of grappling with complex ideas.
Together and individually, they have spoken widely on issues of access, innovation, and advocacy. Highlights include joint invited talks such as: The Puzzle Model: Integration of Telehealth to Expand Access to Palliative Care (South African Palliative Care Conference, 2025), Offering Virtual Palliative Care in South Africa (South African Congress of Oncology, 2025), and Expanding Access to Palliative Care – Learning from Remote and Hybrid Remote Settings (2024). Craig Geoff has also spoken independently on diverse topics including queer-affirming healthcare, sexuality at the end of life, pain management, and the safe integration of AI into palliative practice.
Their journey reflects an ongoing commitment to expanding the boundaries of palliative care – both in practice and in thought – with kindness and authenticity at its core.
Photo Gallery
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