Hospice UK provides new home for Gold Standards Framework

In these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we see end of life care moved up the agenda in a way never experienced before, taking the opportunity to come together to reach more people in their final years of life is critically needed.

Tracey Bleakley, CEO of Hospice UK and GSF

Hospice UK, the national charity for hospice and end of life care, is delighted to be joining forces and providing a new home for The Gold Standards Framework (GSF) Centre, the leading provider of quality improvement training and accreditation in end of life care for generalist frontline health and social care staff.

This Hospice UK and Gold Standards Framework partnership will enhance the provision of services to cover both specialist and generalist end of life care for hospices, palliative care providers, hospitals, GPs, care homes, domiciliary care, retirement villages, prisons and other professional health and social care bodies.

This means together we can reach more people with quality end of life care in any setting, with any condition, given by any care provider.

The GSF Centre will be a subsidiary of Hospice UK and remain its own, independent organisation. From 1 July GSF’s founder Prof Keri Thomas continues as part-time consultant GSF clinical lead and steps down as CEO.

She is replaced by Hospice UK’s CEO Tracey Bleakley. GSF’s current Chair Paul Jennings continues as Chair with a new board of trustees. The work of The GSF Centre will resume from July after its break during the COVID-19 crisis.

Tracey Bleakley, CEO of Hospice UK and GSF:

"Hospice UK is delighted to announce our new relationship with The Gold Standards Framework Centre. This is an exciting step to achieving Hospice UK’s goal that everyone in the UK, no matter who they are, or where they are, can receive the best end of life care.

"In these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we see end of life care moved up the agenda in a way never experienced before, taking the opportunity to come together to reach more people in their final years of life is critically needed."

Professor Keri Thomas OBE and founder of GSF:

"For GSF, as it celebrates its 20th year anniversary, working with a strong and visionary partner in Hospice UK helps put GSF on a firmer foundation for the future, to achieve our shared vision.

"GSF has helped teams provide better care for millions of people, enabling more to live well until they die. Many thousands of doctors, nurses and carers use GSF to help transform end of life care, through the proactive, personalised, coordinated approach now mainstreamed in national policy.

"We are very excited to be taking GSF to the next stage with a like-minded organisation, to meet the future challenges of quality end of life care for all."

Hospice UK and GSF have been discussing their complementary areas of influence and activity for over 3 years. This formal partnership is the natural progression of a relationship, which saw the GSF team move into Hospice House in 2017, and Tracey Bleakley joining the GSF Board.

GSF is known nationally and internationally for its work in enabling generalists through quality improvement training in end of life care across all health and social care settings.

GSF accreditation with the Quality Hallmark Award is recognised by the CQC and endorsed by professional bodies as a kite mark of quality.

Hospice UK is gaining GSF expertise through the continued work of the talented GSF team, including Professor Keri Thomas who will provide part-time consultancy as clinical lead, along with the 12 GSF training programmes in all sectors, online library of resources and Quality Hallmark Awards.

Hospice UK’s established clinical team will add GSF to their existing programmes from work across sectors, care settings and with over 200 hospices to further develop the provision of training and accreditation in end of life care.   

Over the coming months the two organisations will develop the next exciting phase of the GSF offering, continue delivering training and accreditation with the well-respected GSF Quality Hallmark Awards, and together meet the future challenges of end of life care laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic.