St Francis Hospice in Romford, Princess Alice Hospice in Surrey and the North London Hospice will take local care homes through the established GSF in Care Homes Programme (GSFCH), helping to ensure that care home residents receive high quality care in the last months of their lives.
Jane Berg, head of education at Princess Alice Hospice, said: “We are delighted to be awarded Gold Standard Framework Regional Centre status. The GSF Care Home programme can give frontline staff the skills they need to offer more personalised care and ensure the care homes have the structures in place to support residents and their families at end of life.”
There are already a number of regional centres, including St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham, which has has helped hundreds of care homes over the past five years.
Professor Keri Thomas, clinical director of the National GSF Centre, said: “We see the development of regional centres as a key way forward in the dissemination of good practice in end of life care. Our vision is that the regional centres will progress from delivering GSF Care Homes training programmes to other areas such as GP practices and hospitals, piloting new developments, sharing best practice and becoming a strong resource for shared ideas on improving end of life care using GSF.”
Awards for care homes and GPs
Yesterday (28 November 2012) at the GSF Annual Conference, 40 care homes were awarded the GSFCH Quality Hallmark Awards for the second time.
The care homes first received the awards three years ago in recognition of the excellent way they care for residents in the final months of their lives.
Maggie Stobbart-Rowlands, GSFCH lead, said: “Many of the homes have more than doubled the number of people fulfilling their wish to die in their care home and halved the rate of crisis hospital admissions. GSF is helping to transform end of life care in this sector. We hope that this gold standard of care will become the de facto standard to which all care homes will aspire and that they receive the recognition they deserve for all their hard work.”
Also recognised for the quality of care for people approaching the end of their lives were the first seven GP practices to receive the GSF Quality Hallmark Award.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said: “GPs have a critical role in caring for patients as they approach the end of their lives. Identifying these patients, assessing their needs and planning their care is vital if this is to be done well and doctors are to understand and meet the needs and wishes of both the patient and their family. It is great to see GP practices being recognised for meeting this challenge and providing quality end of life care. All GP practices should aspire to the standards within the GSF QH Award.”
GSF Hospice Care Programme
Earlier this year, Lakelands Hospice in Corby became the first hospice to receive the GSF Accreditation Quality Hallmark Award for the quality of its end of life care.
Staff at Lakelands undertook the GSF care home training and adapted it for the needs of a hospice. The hospice has been working with the National GSF Centre on a new programme specifically for hospices, the GSF Hospice Care Programme.
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