Scottish Care Home Receives National Recognition For End-Of-Life Care
A care home in East Kilbride has been awarded a national Gold Standards Framework (GSF) Quality Hallmark Award in recognition of the excellent end-of-life care it provides.
Cathkin House in Nerston, East Kilbride, received the accolade at the GSF annual conference and awards ceremony on Friday 26th September in Birmingham, being recognised for their high standards of care for residents in the later stages of life.
Developed in 2004, GSF is a practical and evidence-based end-of-life care service improvement programme. It is centred around ensuring people live well in the last years of their lives and pass away comfortably in the environment and manner of their choosing.
One example of the team’s continuous excellence when it comes to palliative and end-of-life care is the Purple Butterfly initiative. Adopted from the University of Brighton, this initiative takes the purple butterfly motif and uses it as a form of visual communication to identify where a resident is in their final hours and who is caring for them. This brought more clarity to their process and allowed the team to focus on where they could do better during palliative care.
It has meant that residents and their families were allocated a specific member of the team, which greatly reduced the number of people entering the resident’s room, optimising their dignity and peace in their final hours.
Home Manager Nisha Sujeewon said:
“As a team we were very honoured to have been asked to participate in the gold standard framework for end-of-life care. This is something we have always taken pride in at Cathkin House, the delivery of excellence end of life care. End of life care is very close to my heart as I have experienced it myself with my close relative and I wanted to make sure the journey to end of life for my residents and their families to be comfortable. We considered the choices and wishes of the residents and their families to our utmost priority and staff went above and beyond making sure it was delivered. Proper communication and understanding were key factor in our care.”
Julie Armstrong-Wilson, Chief Operating Officer for GSF said:
“We are delighted to congratulate all the organisations that have achieved accreditation and received the Quality Hallmark Award this year. The quality of care and the compassionate cultures we have seen is truly inspiring, reflecting a deep commitment to ensuring people receive the right care at the right time, making a real difference to them and their families, proving that generalist services can and do provide good palliative and end of life care.
