- Hospice service
East Lancashire Hospice
Report from 13 February 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We carried out this onsite inspection on 13 and14 March 2024. We looked at how East Lancashire Hospice worked with people and their partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care. We reviewed if there was enough qualified, skilled and experienced people, who received effective support, supervision and development. We looked at how the service routinely monitor peoples' care and treatment to continuously improve it and to ensure that outcomes are positive and consistent. We checked that they understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities. We reviewed that there were clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance and that they used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. East Lancashire Hospice is a hospice providing end of life care for adults over the age of 18 years. There were inpatient facilities that could accommodate up to ten patients in individual rooms as well as outpatient services including therapies and counselling support and a hospice at home service. During the inspection, we spoke with about 17 patients and those close to them and a range of staff from all areas including nurses and doctors of all grades, support staff, trustees and senior leaders. We spoke with some staff on site and others via video conferencing following the onsite visit. We observed care and reviewed a sample of patient care records and a sample staff. We observed care, reviewed a sample of patient care records and a sample staff recruitment files as well as other data provided by the service following the onsite visit. The service had last been inspected following old methodology, in 2016, and rated as outstanding. For this inspection we rated the service based on the priorities in the new methodology as good overall. We did not identify any breach of regulation, however there were improvements we identified that the provider should take to make improvements.
People's experience of this service
The feedback from patients and those close to them was consistently positive. Patients reported that they felt staff were skilled to provide specialist care and treatment. Patients and families said they felt listened to and were involved in care and treatment planning. The patients on the inpatient unit reported becoming involved in the hospice from initial outpatient services such as counselling and complementary therapy, so they were confident to choose the hospice as their preferred place of care and/or death. This was discussed and recorded in patient records we reviewed. Patients and those close to them said they received effective pain relief in a timely manner, they felt listened to and were involved in advanced care planning. Comments about care in feedback included caring, friendly, understanding, compassionate, supportive, respectful, calm, helpful, kind, comforting and professional.