Hospice of the Good Shepherd

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• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We assessed 2 quality statements from this key question. We have combined the score for this area with scores based on the rating from the last inspection, which was good. Our rating for this key question is requires improvement. Due to the vacancies in medical staffing the service was not always able to provide continuity in peoples care and treatment. The service offered a range of services that included bereavement support and group work. The service signposted ways people could share feedback, we saw evidence of positive patient and relative feedback. The latest staff survey results were 8% below average of the other 32 hospices across the UK who participated in an independent survey. Staff did not always feel listened to.

This service scored 61 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Person-centred Care during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Due to vacancies in medical staffing the service was not always available to admit people with specialist medical care needs. We noted that admissions had decreased when compared to the same time period the previous year and the hospice was below the national average in terms of bed occupancy according to Hospice UK data. In June 2024 the hospice was below the benchmarked of local independent staff survey involving 32 other hospices. In comparison to the 2020 results, responses had declined in 24 areas. We found that 91% of staff felt the charity acted fairly in its dealings with everyone regardless age, sex, ethnicity, disability and all protected characteristics. Leaders were disappointed with results and were in the process of analysing the data with a view to identifying the improvements to be made. Staff shared examples of going above and beyond to support patients with their last wishes. Examples provided included facilitating pet and animal visits to the hospice. The service had a team of nurses, adult and children’s bereavement counsellors, spiritual care workers, social worker, complementary therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists and carers support workers. They offered a range of support including medical, nursing, rehabilitation, wellbeing support, coffee & chat, and carers support groups. A range of short courses were offered to patients to help with symptom management, managing anxiety, sleeplessness, strength and balance and managing falls. The service had link nurses for dementia, spiritual care and wellbeing and mental health first aiders. Staff had Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training. A one to one navigating grief service was available Monday to Friday. The hospice offered a wills service. Chaplaincy provided end of life care and support for patients, their families and carers and there was access to a spiritual care room 24 hours a day. British Sign Language interpreters and translation services were available.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Details of how to make comments or suggestions, compliments & and complaints were available. A recent satisfaction survey reported 95% of service users rated their overall experience as Outstanding or Good. Patients and those close to them were positive about the care they received. Comments included kind, compassionate, caring, professional, empathetic, comforting, welcoming and respectful. The service had received 4 complaints within the last 12 months. Two complaints were regarding inpatient care and had been resolved informally. The other complaints were in related to the lack of medical consultant cover and a declined admission to the inpatient unit due to medical staffing levels. An action identified was to undertake a medical staffing provision review which was underway at the time of inspection. Complaints and compliments were on the standard agenda for board meetings. The hospice ran service user participation group meetings, meetings chaired by the Director of Quality and Improvement. The group meetings were used to gain service user feedback in relation to new policies and procedures to be implemented, information leaflets and ideas that they were thinking of introducing. From the patient records we reviewed, as well feedback from carers and patients it was clear that patients and those close to them said they felt listened to and were involved in care and treatment planning.

We did not look at Equity in access during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Equity in experiences and outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.