Rustington nursing home starts two-year quest for end of life excellence

Company news

May 03, 2012

The team at Care UK's Darlington Court nursing home is this week starting a nationally accredited programme of training and evaluation to gain the country's highest recognition of end of life care.

The Gold Standard Framework Care Home Accreditation (GSFCH), approved by the NHS, Department of Health,  Age UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, is designed to acknowledge the highest levels of end of life care and encourages choice and dignity for the patient as well as sensitive and effective support for relatives.

The GSFCH training programme is a three-stage quality assurance programme that includes training for all staff in the home and stringent monitoring, documentation and evaluation to ensure standards are kept at the very highest level. The home is then inspected to ensure all the techniques are fully embedded and that homes employees are consistently following the guidelines.

As well as training in pain management, palliative nursing, and counselling, the team will work with GPs at the Coppice surgery in Herne Lane, Rustington, St Barnabas Hospice and palliative care nurses to ensure medical provision is of the highest standard.

Home Manager Linda Clements said: “It is an incredibly sensitive time for people and we want to ensure that our residents have genuine choices and are in a relaxed and comfortable environment. We also want to ensure that the support we give to relatives, both before and after a death, is the best possible.”

Darlington Court, in the Leas, is home to 60 people. It offers nursing care for frail older people, including those with physical disabilities, and, in a separate unit, for older people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other related illnesses.