Key Points
- St David’s Hospice in Llandudno has been awarded the Gold Standards Framework Quality Hallmark Award for end-of-life care.
- The hospice is the first in Wales to be awarded this accreditation.
- This happened through the efforts of the day therapy team who worked hard for 12 months to earn this accreditation through training and other processes.
- Medical Director Dr Gwyn Griffiths said that the staff treated patients with dignity and respect in accordance with their wishes.
- The award was given out during the annual conference and ceremony of the Gold Standards Framework held in Birmingham.
- During this particular award cycle, there were 147 organizations that received the Gold Standards Framework Quality Hallmark Award, including two hospice teams.
- According to North Wales Pioneer, St David’s Hospice provides its services free of charge to patients and their families from Conwy, Gwynedd, and Anglesey.
St David (Wales Times) October09, 2026 – Hospice Gold Standards Framework award was announced in North Wales on 8 October 2026, when Business News Wales reported that the Llandudno hospice had become the first in Wales to receive the national accreditation. The Gold Standards Framework Quality Hallmark Award recognises organisations that demonstrate a commitment to high-quality, person-centred end-of-life care.
The recognition focuses on whether care is organised around each person’s needs, wishes and preferences, including receiving appropriate care in the right place and at the right time. It does not mean that every patient follows the same care plan; the framework is intended to support care that reflects individual circumstances and choices.
The award followed a year-long accreditation effort by St David’s Hospice’s day therapy team. Business News Wales reported that this work involved specialist training, reviewing care at patient level, providing evidence of how the framework’s standards were embedded across the hospice and completing an assessment visit.
The accreditation is significant for Wales because St David’s is the first hospice in the country to achieve it. The award places the organisation among UK providers recognised through the same national framework, while marking a first for the Welsh hospice sector.
How did the hospice achieve accreditation?
The hospice’s route to the award involved more than completing training. The Gold Standards Framework’s published hospice accreditation process describes four main components: outcome measures and patient audit, a portfolio of evidence, an assessment visit, and attendance at the annual conference where awards are presented.
For the patient audit, organisations demonstrate performance against core standards over an eight-week period. The framework says this includes an After-Death Analysis covering five deaths and five discharges, to assess whether the standards are embedded in day-to-day practice at patient level.
The evidence portfolio records how the organisation has put the framework’s key tasks into practice and includes evidence of implementation and a sustainability plan. The assessment visit is used to evaluate that implementation, staff engagement and the organisation’s plans to maintain the approach over time.
Business News Wales’s account of St David’s process identifies specialist training, reviews of care at patient level, submitted evidence and a formal assessment visit. It does not publish the hospice’s audit results, individual assessment scores or detailed findings from the assessors.
The framework describes its hospice training as eight interactive webinar sessions, alongside tools and resources to support implementation. Its key tasks include identifying people who may need end-of-life support, advance care planning, planning for living well and for dying well, supporting families and carers, and delivering compassionate, systematic care.
The award ceremony took place at the East Side Rooms in Birmingham as part of the Gold Standards Framework’s annual conference. Business News Wales reported that 147 organisations received awards during this cycle, across settings including care homes, primary care teams, hospital wards and teams, domiciliary care agencies, retirement villages and hospices.
The published breakdown included two accredited hospice teams. That figure underlines the award’s reach across different types of care providers, but the available report does not state how many hospice teams applied or how many were unsuccessful.
What did the hospice’s medical director say?
Dr Gwyn Griffiths, medical director for St David’s Hospice, said he was proud of the team’s work. In a statement quoted by Business News Wales, he said the hospice’s position as the first in Wales to receive the accreditation reflected the care delivered by its staff.
He also said staff worked to ensure that patients felt their wishes were respected and were treated with dignity and compassion, while their families received support. The remarks connect the award to both patient care and the role of relatives and carers during serious illness and at the end of life.
North Wales Pioneer also reported Griffiths’s comments and described the accreditation as the result of 12 months of focused work by the hospice’s day therapy team. The report similarly lists training, care reviews, evidence gathering and assessment as part of the process.
Neither published account quotes patients or family members about the accreditation. The public statements therefore describe the hospice team’s perspective and the award’s intended standards, rather than reporting direct feedback from service users.
Who does St David’s Hospice support?
North Wales Pioneer reported that St David’s Hospice serves more than 1,000 people each year across Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey. It described the charity as providing round-the-clock, year-round care for adults with advanced illnesses, with clinical, emotional, physical and spiritual support.
The services listed in that report include day therapy, bereavement and counselling support, and inpatient care at the hospice’s Llandudno and Holyhead units. The units provide symptom management, respite care and end-of-life care, according to the publication.
The North Wales Pioneer report also said the hospice’s services are free to patients, families and carers, and that community fundraising makes up a substantial share of its operating support. It put the cost of running the hospice at more than £5.2 million for the year, with 24 per cent of funding coming from the Welsh Government and local health board.
Those operational and funding details were included by North Wales Pioneer but not in the Business News Wales report. They offer context about the charity’s reach and reliance on public support, but the available coverage does not set out a detailed breakdown of spending or fundraising sources beyond the figures reported.
What is the Gold Standards Framework?
The Gold Standards Framework is a UK programme supporting improvements in end-of-life care across settings including hospices, care homes, hospitals, primary care and domiciliary care. The framework describes its purpose as helping providers deliver coordinated, person-centred care based on people’s preferences and needs.
For hospices, the framework’s published process says accreditation lasts three years, after which organisations need to register for reaccreditation. It says hospices that complete reaccreditation every three years achieve platinum status.
The award is therefore an accreditation recognition rather than a one-off commendation based solely on a single activity. The framework’s process involves evidence, patient-level audit and an assessment visit, while its three-year cycle means accredited organisations must return to the process to maintain recognition.
The Gold Standards Framework says its Quality Hallmark Award is a nationally recognised marker of care quality and an information source for Care Quality Commission inspection processes. This describes the framework’s stated role; it should not be read as a replacement for statutory inspection or as a guarantee of a particular outcome for every patient.
What could the award mean for local patients?
For people receiving care from St David’s Hospice and their families, the award signals that the hospice’s day therapy team has completed the framework’s accreditation process and been recognised for its approach to end-of-life care. The framework is designed to support planning around individual wishes, coordination between care providers and support for families and carers.
The recognition may also draw attention to the hospice’s services across Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey, including day therapy, inpatient care and bereavement support. However, the award alone does not establish that access to services will expand, that waiting times will change or that every aspect of care has received the same assessment. The reports do not announce any service changes connected to the accreditation.
For the hospice team, the framework’s three-year accreditation period makes maintaining the standards relevant beyond the award ceremony. The Gold Standards Framework says reaccreditation is required after three years, so the recognition is linked to ongoing practice rather than a permanent status.
Background: St David’s Hospice
St David’s Hospice is based in Llandudno and also operates an inpatient unit in Holyhead, according to North Wales Pioneer. The charity supports adults with advanced illnesses and provides services to patients, families and carers across Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey. Its reported provision includes inpatient and day services, symptom management, respite care, counselling and bereavement support.
The hospice’s day therapy team led the 12-month effort to secure the Gold Standards Framework accreditation. The resulting Quality Hallmark Award makes St David’s the first hospice in Wales to receive this recognition.
Prediction: What may happen next?
The award is likely to bring greater visibility to St David’s Hospice’s approach to end-of-life care and provide a recognised framework against which its work can continue to be reviewed. For patients and families, the practical value will depend on how consistently the accredited standards are maintained in daily care and how well support reflects individual preferences.
No new services, funding commitments or changes to eligibility were announced alongside the award. The most clearly indicated next step is the ongoing work of embedding the standards, with reaccreditation due under the framework’s three-year cycle.
