Introduction General Practitioners (GPs) are at the forefront of healthcare. However, GPs are facing extensive pressures, including ever-increasing patient demand and limited resources. We report the results of an online survey and interviews with GP practices to understand their experiences in providing palliative and end-of-life care. This work was undertaken as part of an independent evaluation of the ‘Daffodil Standards for Advanced Serious Illness and End of Life Care,’ (1,2) created by the Royal College of General Practitioners and Marie Curie.

Aims To map end-of-life activities and identify processes and mechanisms of implementation of the Daffodil Standards.

Methods An online survey was disseminated to GP practices in the UK (September 2022). Those signed up to the Daffodil Standards answered questions about their end-of-life care activities, and experiences of implementation and impact. Those not signed up to the Standards were asked about their end-of-life care activities, their experiences, and challenges they have faced. We will undertake semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of survey respondents to identify processes and mechanisms of implementation. We are prepared for pragmatic contingency plans should we experience poor engagement due to the challenges NHS primary care is facing, including focus groups with participants signed up to the Standards. Data will be analysed using descriptive statistics (survey) and Framework Analysis (survey, interviews, and/or focus groups).

Results Ten respondents have completed the survey to date. Preliminary data will be available for presentation in February 2023.

Conclusions The data will be used to inform and refine the design of a set of case studies to capture learning and identify exemplars of best practice for later phases of the study.

Impact Greater understanding of key barriers and enablers from existing efforts to sustain and improve end-of-life care in general practice, and identify exemplars of high-quality practice, building up an evidence-base to encourage wider implementation of the Standards.

Reference(s) 1. Royal College of General Practitioners (2021). The Daffodil Standards. 10th October 2022. https://rcgp.org.uk/learning-resources/daffodil-standards

2. Marie Curie (2022). Daffodil Standards for GPs. 10th October 2022. https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/professionals/working-in-partnership/royal-college-of-gps/daffodil-standards