Westley Court care home wins gold award for end of life care

Westley Court care home in Cookley near Kidderminster has won a national award for its gold standard of care and support for residents in their final days.

The home in Austcliffe Lane achieved pass status as part of the Gold Standards Framework (GSF) in Care Homes Quality Hallmarks Award. It recognises the work they do in helping residents continue to enjoy their lives where they wish until the end.

This is the second time Westley Court has won the award after first being accredited for a three-year period in 2008.

The Gold Standards Framework helps homes give residents nearing the end of their lives the care they want – where they want it. The aim is to protect them from inappropriate hospital admissions and increasing the chances of them being able to die in the familiar surroundings of the care home they prefer.

Residents are involved at a very early stage in planning their future. Family, care home staff and medical professionals like their doctor or a Macmillan nurse all give their input and the resident is able to discuss special requests, worries and preferences about their future care.

Westley Court care home manager Sam Naujeer was presented with the re-accreditation award from the Gold Standards framework for Palliative Care during a ceremony in London. He said: ‘We are delighted to have been presented with this prestigious award again. We have always prided ourselves on the excellent care we have provided our residents.

‘GSF helped us formalise this and take our care to the next level. Over the last three years we have continued to work hard to ensure all our residents enjoy their lives, receiving the high-quality care they want in their chosen place right up to the end.’

Professor Keri Thomas, GSF national clinical lead, said: ‘GSF is about a "gold standard" of care for all care home residents as they come to the last stage of their lives.

'Homes like Westley Court have proved they are doing this over a sustained period, continually building on what is already a high standard of care. We have delivered training in this quality assurance process to more than 2,000 homes across the UK and are accrediting up to 200 homes a year.

'This helps individuals and their families to identify homes delivering high quality care and shows that despite media reports to the contrary there are many homes providing the kind of care our elderly want and deserve.’

Westley Court, run by Redditch-based Alpha Care Homes, qualified for accreditation by undertaking the full GSFCH training programme over nine to 12 months and putting it into practice for at least six months before being subject to rigorous appraisal.

The Gold Standards Framework Training Programme, which was launched in 2004, is endorsed by major care home organisations and supported by Age UK.

Photo: Westley Court care home manager, Sam Naujeer with the quality award.