4 Jul 2024 Community

Kirklees care homes become The Kirkwood’s End of Life Champions

The Kirkwood is extremely proud to congratulate a number of care homes in Kirklees after they have passed our End of Life Care Champions programme. The homes have worked tirelessly alongside our superb team of Debs Hanson and Rosemary Holland to work towards this fantastic achievement. 

Our End of Life Champions was created from the Kirklees care charter which was created by the Kirklees palliative care partnership teams. This is a group of organisations who collaboratively support those people who are living with a life limiting illness in Kirklees. 

The charter sets out what people can expect from their care, ensuring that the care is focused on what matters to the individual; and shows how organisations are working together to promote and provide high quality end of life care.

In the Autumn of 2022, care homes within Kirklees were invited to take part in this 12-month charter project. These care homes, which include homes who provide support to the older person; Learning Disability; Physical Disability; and Mental Health communities; with specialist support were able to review their existing processes, procedures, and experiences of supporting residents with a life-limiting illness; and could identify areas for quality improvement.

Building on existing work to create End of Life Care Champions within care homes, The Kirkwood, in partnership with local community partners, devised and delivered a programme of tailored education and training based on the Health Education England Outcomes (HEE); working alongside the care homes, to support more people within a care home setting to experience the highest standards of palliative and end of life care.

On successful completion of this programme of education, which consisted of a combination of interactive digital online modules and classroom based taught sessions, 15 new End of Life Care Champions have been created. 

These individuals are role models within their care homes and will continue to be ambassadors for the highest quality of end-of-life care.

This initial charter project concluded in late November 2023 with a celebration event in recognition of the nine Care homes within Kirklees who have successfully completed the care charter programme and could evidence that they met the six domains of the care charter and can embed this best practice within their care settings in a way that is meaningful for their residents and their loved ones.

On recognising these homes and the work they do, care home lead Debs Hanson said: “We are thrilled that these homes have got the End of Life Champion award. We work so closely with them on a daily basis and I know how hard the staff have worked to achieve this award. 

“As a charity we continue to strive to hold up the best practice for quality of care for anyone living with a life limiting illness in a care home setting and wider in the community.

“We will continue to support as many people as possible in care homes across Kirklees. I am proud of the work we have achieved as a charity but I am always looking for ways to improve and strive to be better.”