GSF accreditation for home care providers: End-of-life care guide

For many people, being able to remain in their own home as their health changes is incredibly important. Familiar surroundings, daily routines, and relationships can provide comfort and reassurance, especially near the end of life.

Good end-of-life care at home is more than just practical help. It means understanding what a person wants. It means noticing when their needs change. It means making sure care workers, families, and healthcare professionals communicate well.

The Gold Standards Framework (GSF) helps home care providers deliver personalised, well-organised end-of-life care. But what does GSF accreditation mean, and how can it help you pick a home care provider?

What is the Gold Standards Framework?

The Gold Standards Framework (GSF) is a registered charity that has supported health and social care professionals to provide high-quality end-of-life care for more than 25 years.

Its Domiciliary Care Quality Improvement Programme provides training and practical guidance to help home care teams support people approaching the final stages of life, whatever their health condition.

The programme helps care workers to:

• Recognise when someone may be approaching the end of life.
• Understand and respect people’s wishes and preferences.
• Support conversations about future care and advance care planning.
• Communicate effectively with families, GPs, district nurses and other healthcare professionals.
• Coordinate care as someone’s health needs change.

The aim is to help people receive the right care at the right time, including supporting them to remain at home when this is their preference and their needs can be safely met.

What does GSF mean for a home care provider?

GSF is more than an end-of-life care training course. It provides a structured approach that helps home care providers improve the quality and consistency of care across their organisation.

Rather than relying on individual care workers to recognise and respond to changing needs, GSF helps teams develop shared knowledge, processes and confidence.

For people receiving home care, this can mean greater reassurance that their wishes are understood, changes in their health are recognised, and everyone involved in their care is working together.

For example, if someone becomes increasingly frail, a GSF-trained care team may recognise these changes early, discuss concerns with the person and their family, and work with healthcare professionals to review their care plan.

This can help prevent gaps in communication and ensure that support reflects the person’s changing needs.

What difference can GSF make?

Good communication and advance care planning can make a significant difference to someone’s experience of end-of-life care.

GSF training encourages home care teams to recognise changes in health, discuss future wishes, and coordinate support with other professionals.

This approach can help:

• Respect individual wishes: People have opportunities to discuss what matters to them and where they would prefer to receive care.
• Improve communication: Families, care workers and healthcare professionals can share important information and respond to changing needs.
• Avoid unnecessary hospital admissions: Early planning and coordinated support may help prevent hospital admissions that someone does not want or need.
• Support people to remain at home: Where appropriate, care can be arranged around someone’s preference to stay in familiar surroundings.
• Reassure families: Relatives can feel more informed and involved in decisions about their loved one’s care.

GSF’s wider evidence base includes research, evaluations, impact assessments, and case studies that show improvements in communication, teamwork, and care experiences.

You can explore the GSF evidence and impact to find out more.

What does GSF accreditation involve?

Home care providers that complete GSF training can progress to accreditation, demonstrating that they have embedded the framework into everyday practice.

The accreditation process has four main stages:

1. Key Outcome Ratios and Supportive Care Analysis: Providers demonstrate how they meet GSF’s core standards and measure outcomes.
2. Portfolio of Evidence: The organisation provides evidence showing how the GSF 7 Key Tasks have been implemented, alongside a plan for sustaining improvements.
3. Assessment Visit: GSF assessors examine how the framework is being used, how staff are involved and how improvements are maintained.
4. Independent Panel: An independent panel reviews the assessment findings and determines whether the provider should receive the Quality Hallmark Award.

Successful providers receive the nationally recognised GSF Quality Hallmark Award and are recognised at the annual GSF Conference and Awards.

Accreditation lasts for three years, after which providers can apply for reaccreditation. Organisations that continue to demonstrate sustained commitment to the framework can achieve Platinum status.

If you are choosing a home care provider

If you are arranging home care for yourself or a loved one, particularly when someone has a serious illness or complex health needs, it is worth asking how a provider approaches end-of-life care.

GSF accreditation can be a useful indicator of quality because it shows that a provider has completed specialist training and demonstrated how it puts the framework into practice.

However, consider accreditation alongside other factors, including inspection ratings, reviews, the services offered, and whether the provider can meet someone’s individual needs.

Questions you may want to ask include:

• How do care workers recognise when someone’s health needs are changing?
• What training do staff receive in end-of-life care?
• How are someone’s wishes and preferences recorded and respected?
• How does the provider communicate with GPs, district nurses and other healthcare professionals?
• How are families involved in care planning?
• Can the provider support someone who wishes to remain at home towards the end of their life?

Asking these questions can help you understand how a provider would support someone as their needs change.

You can also visit the Gold Standards Framework website to find out more about accredited providers.

Free resources for planning ahead

Planning for future care can help ensure that someone’s wishes are understood and respected if their health changes.

Advance care planning involves thinking about what matters most to you, discussing your preferences with people you trust and, where appropriate, recording your wishes.

The Gold Standards Framework provides free resources to help individuals and families start these conversations, including Advance Care Planning in 5 Simple Steps and the Thinking Ahead booklet.

These resources help people consider their future care preferences and share them with family members and healthcare professionals.

Explore the GSF advance care planning resources.

For home care providers

For home care organisations looking to improve their approach to end-of-life care, GSF offers training, practical tools and a structured pathway towards accreditation.

The programme helps teams build confidence, improve communication, recognise changing needs and develop consistent approaches to delivering personalised care.

Providers can find out more about GSF Domiciliary Care Training and Accreditation.