RPS, Marie Curie launches Daffodil Standards on end-of-life care for community pharmacies

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in partnership with the UK’s leading end of life charity Marie Curie has launched Daffodil Standards for community pharmacies to improve end-of-life care.

Community pharmacies across the UK can now sign up to the Daffodil Standards and display the ‘daffodil mark’ as a sign of their commitment to improving the care they provide as they work through the self-assessment and actions for the eight individual Daffodil Standards.

The Daffodil Standards identify and build on areas of good practice and enable development of robust processes to support the delivery of compassionate, holistic care to patients living with an advanced serious illness, or at the end of their lives, and their carers and wider family network.

They also align with and complement the Royal College of General Practitioners and Marie Curie Daffodil Standards already used by general practices.

By adopting the Standards, pharmacies commit to making improvements in at least three of eight core aspects of care each year, with the aim of having reviewed all of them after three years.

The eight Daffodil Standards relate to- Professional and competent staff; Early identification of patients and their carers; Carer support, before and after death; Seamless, planned, coordinated care; Assessment of the unique needs of each patient; Quality care during the last days of life; Bereavement care after death and Pharmacies as hubs within Compassionate Communities

Professor Claire Anderson RPS President said: “Community pharmacies already make a huge impact on how patients and families experience end of life care as patients trust and value the easy access to expertise that they provide.

“We’re delighted to be able to launch these quality improvement standards with Marie Curie and hope they provide positive support to community pharmacy teams and their patients at a challenging time.”

Darrell Baker, RPS project lead for the Daffodil Standards said: “With a growing number of patients with complex medical needs and increasingly expressing a preference to be cared for at home, community pharmacists and their teams can play a crucial role in supporting patients and their carers during this difficult time.

“The Daffodil Standards provide a roadmap to help community pharmacy teams deliver the best possible care on a range of issues, including symptom management, communication with patients and their carers, and collaboration with other healthcare professionals.”

The Daffodil Standards were developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders, including pharmacists, patients, and other healthcare professionals, with support from the RPS Community Pharmacy Expert Advisory Group and informed by thorough review of existing best practice across the UK and internationally.