The Daffodil Standards will help to improve end of life care for patients
Daffodil Standards were developed in partnership by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and Marie Curie. They are a voluntary, structured approach to help everyone working in GP practices to consistently offer the best care for people living with an advanced, serious illness or at the end of their lives. The standards cover eight core areas with tools, resources and simple steps to help GP practices assess and build on good care they already give their patients and their loved ones. They will help GP practices across the UK to feel empowered to improve the End of Life Care they provide in manageable practical ways which suit them.
The standards are for all staff at GP surgeries – from GPs to practice managers, nurses, receptionists, other healthcare professionals and support staff. They are designed to be worked through together as a team.
These are the eight standards that the initiative is built on:
Standard 1: Professional and competent staff
Purpose: To create an infrastructure in the practice which a supportive end of life support strategy can be built upon.
Standard 2: Early identification
Pursope: To identify patients approaching/in end of life to enable audits and targeted interventions.
Standard 3: Carer support before and after death
Purpose: Identification of other patient groups who may benefit from end of life care improvements – i.e. carers
Standard 4: Seamless, well-planned, coordination care
Purpose: To suggest ways of improving proactive emd of life care supported by infrastucture beyond the practice.
Standard 5: Care is based on the assessed unique needs
Purpose: To create a personalised, holistic and reflective approach to end of life care through care palnning.
Standard 6: Quality care during the last days of life
Purpose: To support patients at the end of their life, and reflect on recent deaths
Standard 7: Care after death
Purpose: To improve support people experiencing bereavement and making support links with the community.
Standard 8: General practice being hubs within Compassionate Communities
Purpose: to integrate and embed general practice and end of life care practices into the wider system and community.