St Ann's Hospice Heald Green

The service is a registered charity with a board of trustees. Day to day the service is run by an executive management team drawn from all departments within the hospice. There was a new chief executive who had been in post for several months who had been meeting with all staff and users of the service as part of their induction into the role.

There was a registered manager employed for this service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was experienced in providing palliative care and had joined the organisation within the last two years.

People and professionals spoke highly of the complementary therapies that were available to both people who used the service and relatives. The hospice provided family support, counselling and bereavement support and we saw the service helped people carry out specific wishes such as providing a Christmas party for someone with their family at the family’s request.

People told us that staff were caring, compassionate and listened to them. People we spoke with who received personal care felt the staff were knowledgeable, skilled and their care and support met their needs.

The service had recently introduced a new electronic recording tool called EMIS (Egton Medical Information System). Although this was still relatively new, staff we spoke with were positive about the training they had to support this new approach and stated it was, “useful and efficient.”

People’s health care needs were met by the in-house medical team. This included consultants, GP’s with a special interest in palliative care, an occupational therapy team, a physiotherapist, social worker, dietician and chaplain.

Care plans were personalised to include people’s wishes and views. People and relatives told us they were consulted about their care and treatment and that they regularly had the opportunity to speak to medical and nursing staff. Care plans were regularly reviewed in a multi-disciplinary framework. We observed staff caring for patients in a way that respected their individual choices and beliefs.

Staff recruitment processes were followed with the appropriate checks being carried out. There were sufficient staff on duty to meet people’s needs. The hospice had experienced some shortness of staff recently although this had not impacted detrimentally on the people using the service. The hospice had a bank of staff who they could contact if they needed additional staff. The registered manager told us they had recently tried to recruit additional nursing staff but felt the calibre of applicants wasn’t right. They were going to review their advert and recruitment process to try and attract further applicants. Staff and volunteers received a thorough induction and regular training to ensure they had the knowledge and skills to deliver high quality care and support.

Staff followed risk assessments and guidance in management plans when providing care and support for people in order to maintain people’s safety.

People were protected by the service’s approach to safeguarding and whistle blowing. People who used the service told us that they were safe, could raise concerns if they needed to and were listened to by staff. Staff were aware of safeguarding procedures, could describe what they would do if they thought somebody was being mistreated and said that management listened and acted on staff feedback.

Staff told us they were very supported by the management team and could get help and support if they needed it at any time. Staff received regular and meaningful supervision and appraisals. Staff members told us they felt part of a team and were proud to work for the hospice.

Staff worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act where appropriate. People had choices about their care and their consent was sought by staff.

People were supported to receive a nutritious diet at the service. Their appetite was assessed through talking to them, which guided staff to give the person the type and amount of food they would be able to eat. There was a choice of menu on the day we inspected and drinks and snacks were available at any time. The service also provided a café for people, families and staff to enjoy a drink or snack. All food was freshly prepared on site and we saw people being given the opportunity to chose what they wanted to eat or drink.

The staff undertook the management of medicines safely and in line with people’s care plans. The service had health and safety related procedures, including systems for reporting and recording accidents and incidents. The care records we looked at included risk assessments, which had been completed to identify any risks associated with delivering the person’s care and their environment.

The registered provider had a system in place for responding to people’s concerns and complaints. People and carers and families were asked for their views and were involved in a group that considered ideas and developments at the service.

There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. The service was going through a period of transition with new staff members at senior levels and new service developments such as the EMIS care planning system and the implementation of the Outcome Assessment and Complexity Collaborative (OACC) tool. This will enhance the care planning process by ensuring that outcomes for people are clearly recorded. The service also had other new ideas they were developing such as introducing a dementia champion and they had introduced a management training programme Staff told us that the service had an open, inclusive and positive culture.

Accidents and incidents were clearly recorded. There was an embedded culture of learning from mistakes and sharing of action plans for improvement work within the service.

We saw staff caring for patients with respect and compassion. Staff were heard speaking with patients in a calm and friendly manner.

We saw appropriate policies and procedures in place, staff we spoke with were aware of how to access them and the correct procedures to follow.

We looked at two patients' records which contained relevant and factual health information. Patients' wishes and preferences were recorded and patients were included in discussions about their care and treatment.

We spoke with three patients and ten relatives. One patient said 'This is a wonderful place; all the staff are so kind and caring I can't praise them enough. They make sure I am not in any pain. The food is very good and nicely presented. ' Another patient told us 'The care is excellent, I am very comfortable.' A relative said 'People worry about having to go into a hospice but the care here is excellent, 10 out of 10. The staff have time to talk to us and give us as much information and support we need as a family'. Another relative said, 'The standard of care is first class'.

We spoke with four members of staff who were aware of the safeguarding procedures and had an understanding of mental capacity issues and best interests decision making. Staff told us they were well supported by management and told us that there was an open door policy and everyone was approachable. Staff meetings were held regularly, training and professional development was on-going and annual appraisals were undertaken.

Any complaints were taken seriously and followed up appropriately we saw evidence that regular audits were undertaken.

During our visit to the hospice we spoke to three people who were receiving care. We also spoke with the Registered Manager and other members of the staff team.

One of the people we spoke with who was using the service told us; 'They do what they can to ease you, we get an allocated nurse who always sits with you and has a chat, they do so much for you mentally as well as physically, staff are friendly and calm in their approach to people'. The person also said that they enjoyed talking with the volunteers and liked the friendly banter between one of volunteers in particular.

Another person told us that the hospice had given them a safety net and that the staff, nurses and auxiliary's could not do enough for you and were very kind. They also said that there were other resources such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and social workers. The person told us that the Hospice concentrated on the person as a whole rather than just their medical needs