Cheshire and Merseyside GPs scoop awards for addressing inequalities in end-of-life care
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Three local GPs are celebrating after bringing home accolades at the recent Daffodil Standard Awards, recognising their outstanding contribution to best practice in end-of-life care.
The third annual Daffodil Standards Awards took place at the RCGP Annual Conference in Newport, Wales, earlier this month, with NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Dr Jonathan Griffiths and Dr Bryony Kendall jointly winning the ‘Addressing Inequalities in End of Life’ award alongside the Brownlow Health Homeless Palliative Team.
The Daffodil Standards Awards – a joint project between the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the UK's leading end of life charity Marie Curie – is a recognition and celebration of exceptional end-of-life care delivered by practices, GPs and their teams.
Nominees and winners are selected based on their implementation of the principles of The Daffodil Standards. There are a set of voluntary quality improvement standards developed by Marie Curie and the RCGP to support better, more consistent end of life care across general practice. To date, more than 2,100 practices across the UK have signed up to the Standards.
In adjudication, the judges were particularly impressed by Dr Griffiths' and Dr Kendall’s innovative framework for practitioners which helps support bereaved families following the death of a child, calling it “incredibly moving and innovative”.
Dr Griffiths and Dr Kendall recently featured in a powerful podcast exploring how GPs can support families through the devastating loss of a child.
Dr Jonathan Griffiths, GP and Associate Medical Director, Primary Care, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:
“The ‘When A Child Dies’ framework is designed to help General Practice support those suffering bereavement because of the death of a child. It is a much-needed resource with practical advice and a wealth of suggestions about how to approach parental bereavement. We hope it will give confidence to practice teams to reach out and care with empathy and understanding.”
The Brownlow Health Homeless Palliative Team were praised by the judges for their “groundbreaking” model of proactive, inclusive care which was deemed an “inspiring example of inclusion health in action”.
Dr Ryan Young, GP at Brownlow Health, said:
“The Brownlow Health Homeless Palliative Team provide care to some of the most marginalised people in our society. We recognised that people experiencing homelessness were not having ‘good’ deaths. They often had limited palliative care and were dying in places they didn’t want to die in. We’ve been able to provide support to ensure that they access the palliative care they need and, ultimately, enable them to die with dignity.”
Siwan Seaman, Medical Director at Marie Curie’s Cardiff and the Vale hospice, said:
“We’ve been working closely with the RCGP for over ten years now, and I am very pleased to see our partnership continuing to be celebrated through the Daffodil Standards Awards.
“This cross-community initiative promotes quality improvements in General Practice with a patient focused approach that will support better outcomes in palliative and end of life care.
“These are the only awards within the sector that recognise the contributions of the entire practice team and celebrate the importance of a compassionate and targeted approach at every stage of the end of life experience. Huge congratulations to all the winners!”