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Acute hospitals recognised for quality of end of life care Milestone awards for Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital By Sophie Blakemore @Nursejournals THE QUALITY of end of life care on wards at two acute hospitals has been recognised for the first time in the UK. A stroke ward at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and one oncology and one haematology ward at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital have become the first to be accredited by the National Gold Standards Framework (GSF) Centre for the care given to patients in their final year, months, weeks and days of life. Until now, no acute hospitals have achieved the accolade, which has been awarded predominantly to care homes and primary care settings. The GSF is the UK’s leading provider of training for generalist health and

social care professionals working in end of life care. Staff on the wards demonstrated early recognition of decline in patients, with more than one third identified correctly as being in their final year of life, offered advance care planning discussions to all and improved communication with GPs so more patients could be discharged to live and die at home if that was their wish. Clinical lead on the stroke unit at the Royal Lancaster Judy Eyres said all the nursing team had embraced and worked towards achieving the GSF. ‘We speak to families and identify patients who we believe have end of life care needs and we then flag this up with the consultant,’ Ms Eyres said. ‘Lots of

patients cannot voice their wishes when they reach a certain point in their illness, so identifying them early helps them to express themselves easier. ‘Patients and their relatives have thanked us for bringing up end of life care and it has also been good for staff who have found it easier to address the topic because the GSF gives us a format to work to.’ RCN professional lead long-term conditions Amanda Cheesley said she is ‘thrilled’ that acute hospitals are starting to ensure their staff have the knowledge and skills to deliver end of life care. ‘This needs to be adopted more widely; care homes and hospitals are the priority for ensuring their staff have the training and feel comfortable to deliver end of life care.’ GSF accreditation for acute hospitals is endorsed by the British Geriatrics Society (BGS), which also took part in the assessment process. BGS end of life care lead Martin Vernon said the wards’ achievement was a ‘milestone event’ with hospitals now caring for greater numbers of people towards the end of their lives. Information about the GSF can be found at www.goldstandardsframework.org.uk

Trusts urged to extend visiting hours for ‘partners in care’ CARE SERVICES minister Norman Lamb has written to hospitals in England asking them to give the families of patients with dementia the option to visit outside normal visiting hours and to stay overnight. Mr Lamb has asked the trusts to adopt the flexible approach as part of an effort to make them more dementia friendly. His letter said: ‘We are aware the removal of restrictions on visiting hours is not an action we could mandate but we encourage you to take into account the wishes of carers and people with dementia.’ In March, prime minister David Cameron announced Challenge on Dementia 2020, which says all health and care environments should be dementia friendly and relatives should be able to stay with a loved one who has dementia when they are nearing the end of life. NURSING OLDER PEOPLE

Role play masterclass for sensitive conversations HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS in north east England have been learning how to broach difficult conversations with patients as part of a continuing professional development programme. Northumbria University director of programmes Gillian Walton (pictured

above, left) developed a communications masterclass using role play. Sharron Surrey, a ward sister at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, said: ‘The masterclass helped me de-personalise matters that are emotionally charged.’ Find out more at tinyurl.com/m2zkjp4 May 2015 | Volume 27 | Number 4

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Acute hospitals recognised for quality of end of life care.

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