Gold Standards Framework

We are delighted to have been awarded the highest 'Platinum' status in the nationally recognised Gold Standards Framework in August 2017. This builds on our original accreditation in 2014 and recognises our sustained practice in maintaining a 'gold standard of care' at Tudor Lodge and our commitment to collaborative care for residents in conjunction with the local community nurses and hospice services.

We have always worked with residents, families and colleagues to develop improvements in the quality and organisation of care for people approaching the end of their lives. As part of this process, we joined the National Gold Standards Framework in Care Homes Programme back in 2013, supported by local facilitators, the National GSF team and other colleagues. This entailed the home being part of a training programme, with the GSF Leads attending workshops and training events, implementing the learning with all staff, residents, families together to make improvements in care. There is an independent quality assurance process, which rewards those homes that have undertaken the GSF Care Homes Training programme and can demonstrate full integration of the work into their home. The GSF Care Homes Programme is recognised by National Skills Academy for Social Care as a Centre of Excellence and we are proud to be a part of this.

What is the Gold Standards Framework?

The Gold Standards Framework is a framework to help deliver a ‘gold standard of care’ for all people as they near the end of their lives.
The GSF is a way of working that has been adopted by your Care Home along with hundreds of others across the UK. It involves them working together as a team and with other professionals, to help to provide the highest standard of care possible For residents and their families as they face the last stage of their lives.
Residents ‘living well until they die’ deserve the ‘best’ care that we can provide - the ‘gold standard of care’. This includes support that is of a high quality, reliable and consistent.
The GSFCH delivers both quality improvement plus quality assurance, with its full accreditation process leading to quality recognition.
The programme has 3 aims:
1. To improve the quality of care provided for all residents from admission to the home.
2. To improve the collaboration with GPs, primary care teams and specialists
3. To reduce the number of hospital admissions in the final stage of life, enabling more to die with dignity in the home, if that is their wish.
Utilising the 7 ‘C’ key tasks: Communication, Coordination, Continuity, Carer support, Continued learning, Control of Symptoms and Care of the dying

How does it improve care?

Some key developments include:-

• Setting up a register with regular planning meetings to discuss and focus on care
• Planning for the needs of residents at varying times, using coding and a needs/support plan.
• Reducing the need for crisis hospital admissions.
• Advance Care Planning - discussing the choices, preferences and options to best meet the needs of residents and their families.
• Working closely with the family to best meet the needs of their loved one and be aware of choices that are available.
• Even better working with GPs, District Nurses, palliative care specialists, hospitals and others.
• Information and communication with other services e.g. Out of Hours medical services, ambulance services.
• Use of an agreed plan for the final days of life, to enable a ‘good death’
• Ongoing reflection and education of staff according to their needs. Staff who aspire to the best, and we wish to affirm and encourage them, building confidence and ability to provide excellence in care.