This inspection took place on 31 August and 1 September 2016 and was announced. The service was last inspected on 11 December 2013 and at that time was meeting all the regulations we looked at.Haven House Children's Hospice provides overnight respite care for up to five children and young people aged from birth to 19 years who may have complex needs associated with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. They also provide some day care. Haven House will accept initial referrals from anyone in the community who knows a child with a life limiting condition or complex health conditions which are likely to shorten their life.
Haven House offers a multi-professional approach to the health, social care and education of children who attend the service. At time of our inspection, they provided respite support to approximately 100 children and their families, the majority of whom received up to 20 days of care yearly. Parents were able to negotiate with Haven House about the most suitable and convenient time for their child to receive support. This could be provided as half days, overnights and in some situations blocks of time to allow parents time to have a holiday or visit family abroad.
In addition to the respite care offered to children at Haven House, there was support for parents and siblings. This support ranged from a specialist toy loan library, complimentary therapies for adults including Reflexology and Rejuvanessence (head and facial massage designed to help relaxation), the Butterfly suite used as accommodation for children which allows parents to stay in adjacent accommodation so their can be near their children, a bereavement team and an expert parent programme designed to give training and confidence to parents caring for their children.
There were also a number of services being developed to support families. The ‘Hospice at Home’ service has recently been registered with CQC with the aim of providing families with choices when their child was nearing the end of their life and they wish them to die with them at home. Additionally, Haven House had also employed a neonatal nurse to support babies with complex needs associated with their conditions.
The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Staff, volunteers and trustees all held a shared vision to provide high quality care for children and young people with life limiting conditions. In order to achieve this staff were highly trained and supported to undertake their roles.
Care that was offered to children and young people was personalised and reflected their needs. Care plans were comprehensive and constantly reviewed so they were up to date. Practical and emotional support was provided to children and their families throughout their contact with Haven House, this included after the death of a child.
Children and young people had their health care needs met by professionals within Haven House and by community health and social care professionals. There was evidence professionals worked with each other in the interests of the child. The provider met the nutritional needs of children and young people and ensured they received their medicines as prescribed. There were appropriate infection control measures in place.
Staff used a number of communication methods to seek consent from children and young people. Where this was not possible, measures were in place to make sure their rights were protected and decisions about their care and treatment made in their best interests.
Parents told us they felt their children were safe at Haven House. Staff knew what action to take if they consider any young person was at risk of harm. There were a number of checks in place to make sure only suitable staff and volunteers were recruited. Staffing levels were sufficient to meet children’s needs.
The care that was provided was characterized by compassion and warmth. Staff were knowledgeable about the children they were caring for and ensured the care maintained the child’s privacy and dignity. Haven House were mindful of the different spiritual and cultural needs of people, and these could be accommodated during the provision of care and after a child’s death.
Haven House had a commitment to providing high quality care. There were a number of measures in place to actively seek parents' views and to act on comments and suggestions made. In addition, there were internal measures to monitor and audit the service, to learn from any incidents and accidents and to anticipate any future difficulties and take action to minimise them.
Senior managers provided strong leadership. Staff and parents were positive about the role of senior managers and how they were open and approachable. Senior managers were constantly monitoring the service and considering ways it could be improved for the existing children and young people who used the service, but also ways they could support more children in the community.