This will mean GP surgeries can display a ‘daffodil mark’ as a sign of their commitment to improving end of life care.
The eight standards set out are:
- Professional and competent staff
- Early identification
- Carer support
- Seamless well planned coordinated use
- Assessment of unique needs of the patient
- Quality care during the last days of life
- Care after death
- General practice being hubs within Compassionate Communities
Part of our work at Myton is to reach out to people earlier on in their diagnosis...
we provide more than end of life care and everyone should have the opportunity to benefit from these services as soon as they find out an illness cannot be cured.
Olivia Bowskill, Community Engagement Manager at Myton, works with a variety of healthcare providers and community groups around Coventry and Warwickshire to increase awareness of the services we provide. Her work aims to ensure more people who could benefit from these services are referred to Myton as early as possible.
She said:
It is great to see the Royal College of GPs working with Marie Curie to create and roll out these standards. Often people who have palliative care needs are not referred to hospice services until their health has deteriorated significantly, whereas earlier intervention can help them to live well for longer. Recent research suggests earlier hospice intervention improves patients’ experience and quality of life.
I hope that the Daffodil Standards will encourage primary healthcare providers to consider referring to their local hospice sooner. NHS services are under so much pressure that having patients come to Myton sooner will hopefully relieve some of the pressure GPs and hospital staff face. We are working closely with communities and hospitals to make sure patients are signposted to the appropriate services, including our own, in a more efficient and effective way.
One of our key priorities is to continue to raise awareness of hospice services and to work in partnership with other social and health providers.