The Royal College of GPs (RCGP), in partnership with the end-of-life charity Marie Curie, has launched new 'Daffodil standards' for the care of older patients living in care homes.
The new guidance has been co-developed with frontline GPs, members of the multi-disciplinary practice team and other relevant care providers as a free, quality-improvement programme.
The standards build on the wider Daffodil standards programme, launched last year by the College and Marie Curie, which provided a set of standards that GP practices can sign up to as a commitment to continuously improve the quality of palliative and end-of-life care they deliver for patients. So far, approximately, one in six practices in the UK have signed up.
Daffodil Standards for Older Patients Living in Care Homes is free to sign up to and available as a downloadable, self-assessment tool. It consists of two levels – the first looking at processes in place and the second looking at whether these deliver what patients and their families want and need.
Dr Catherine Millington-Sanders, RCGP and Marie Curie National Clinical Champion for End-of-Life Care, said: “The standards have been developed by a diverse group of organisations, all committed to delivering the best possible care to older patients who live in care homes. Our aim is to minimise variation in the end-of-life care they receive, and to support GPs and their multidisciplinary teams who are delivering their care, in partnership with care home staff.
“General practice plays a crucial role in delivering high quality end of life care to their patients in care homes. Prior to the pandemic, we planned to develop the Daffodil standards to enable a focus on older patients in care homes and the pandemic has brought the importance of this work into sharp focus. As GPs and their teams press on in managing COVID-19 and delivering vital general practice services under difficult circumstances, this framework aims to support GP practices by confirming robust leadership and systems to support the individual older patient’s health - this should reassure both care home residents and their families alike.”
This article originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
