Mandy Thorn, Marches Care Ltd & The Uplands at Oxon | | | | | | | | | Stage 1 Preparation Guidance and resources pack including DVD, simple online audit tool: After Death Analysis (ADA) Stage 2 - Training
4 interactive full day workshops, utilising a variety of teaching methods to implement the key GSF standards into practice, with actions to be completed between workshops, ensuring a step by step approach. Stage 3 - Consolidation leading to Accreditation
Embedding GSF into everyday practice ensures sustainability, after 6 months they can register for the Accreditation Process. The Quality Hallmark Award is presented to those homes who have reached the required 'Gold Standard'. Re-appraisal each year monitors progress with full re-accreditation after 3 years. |
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| 5. Five key themes of the GSF care homes work include:- - Pre-planning - includes needs-based coding of all residents and linking with the Needs Support Matrices, advance care planning discussions offered to ALL residents as standard practice, better pre-emptive planning with GPs, anticipatory prescribing, out of hours handover forms, LCP/pathways/protocols for care in the final days.
- Improved communication - listening to peoples' real concerns and needs, talking more easily about the subject of care towards the end of life, communicating better with others and improved means of written documentation.
- Improved team-working and collaboration both within the home and between others in the community eg with GPs, hospice / palliative care, PCT Local Authorities etc
- Decreasing hospitalisation - by reducing avoidable hospital admissions and leading to more dying with dignity in the home, improving hospital turnaround of patients to facilitate an earlier discharge.
- High quality clinical care, with good assessment and management of symptoms, identifying specific needs of those with dementia and prevention of avoidable crises.
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Dr Teresa Griffin talks about the benefits of accreditation for care homes
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The work is strongly experiential and peer supported, using many real life examples from homes. We build on the belief that staff have a special relationship with their residents and aspire to the best, and we wish to affirm and encourage them, building confidence and ability to provide excellence in care. Although collaboration with specialists, GPs and others is important, this is about the way a care home team itself functions and how the ‘gold standards’ thinking runs through the whole home. | |
It now has a standardised curriculum, using various resources, tools and DVD clips, tailored to meet the needs of local areas. Additional training courses will be available ie Care Home Clinical Course, GSF Coordinators Course.
Going for Gold - the GSFCH Accreditation Process
The third stage of the programme, Accreditation - "Going for Gold" ensures that the implementation of GSF is sustained in the home and impacts on the standard of care, with key standards ensure a "good standard of care" for all residents.
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Maggie Stobbart-Rowlands, National GSFCH Programme Manager
| | | | | | | | | | | This involves 4 elements: - Self assessment against a checklist of 20 standards
- Assembly of a portfolio of evidence for each standard
- An independent visit
- Online ADA audit of 5 residents
The full results are presented to an independent panel, with representatives from Help the Aged and independent quality assessors and carers, where the final decision is made. Homes may be deferred with recommendations and guidance for further improvement, passed, commended or awarded a Beacon status. The local PCT, commissioning bodies and local media are informed of the names of the accredited care homes and this is held on a nationally available database. Homes that have been accredited then join the Solid Gold Club |
This twice yearly process leads to the presentation of the Quality Hallmark Award for the successful homes that have achieved the required standard. The award ceremonies (held in June and January each year) celebrate their achievement and showcase their examples good practice. For details of the next accreditation round please email carehomes@gsfcentre.co.uk or 01743 291895.
"Consistency and quality run like a theme through GSF. This work must not be diluted or dismantled. We highly recommend using GSF for Care Homes, and the quality assurance process and we enthusiastically support its use across the whole country"
Martin Green CEO of ECCA 2007
