East Lancashire Hospice

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

The provider and staff followed NICE guidelines and nationally recognised evidenced based care and treatment to implement care and assesses needs and treatment. The provider and staff followed NICE guidelines and nationally recognised evidenced based care and treatment to assess needs and implement treatment and care. The medical director reviewed guidance and implemented it. The provider monitored data such as referrals to the service and preferred place of care and preferred place of death. The provider and staff encouraged people using services to give feedback on care. People and those close to them were positive about care and treatment.

This service scored 96 (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 Assessing needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Supporting people to live healthier lives during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

Patients and families said they felt listened to and were involved in advance care planning. The preferred place (PPD) of death was discussed and recorded which was also noted in patient records we reviewed. Patients and carers reported becoming involved in the hospice service from initial outpatient services such as counselling and complementary therapies so they were confident to choose the inpatient unit as their PPD. Feedback from people who were using the service was positive. Patients and those close to them told us on inspection that staff provided good care and treatment. There was an internal review, in the inpatient unit for quality and development in August 2023. Patient feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the staff and care provided.

Staff commented that the hospice feedback on care was not accessible or inclusive as the questionnaire was too long and was accessed by the website or via a QR codes on the inpatient rooms. Feedback gained by the provider supported that patient experiences were positive. The provider and staff encouraged people using services to give feedback on care. However, the information received was not analysed to review any themes or trends such as ‘you said we did’ examples. The provider confirmed that the patient survey is accessible in paper format, QR codes and via the website. Paper copies are uploaded onto the system with a disclosure to confirm they had been imported from a paper copy. The provider and staff followed nice guidelines and nationally recognised evidenced based care and treatment to implement care and assesses needs and treatment. During the on-site inspection, the provider advised that the patient survey had recently been reviewed, amended and relaunched to make this easier for patients to complete. This meant an interruption to the analysis of submissions as the service were waiting for more data to be received to analyse effectively. The provider and staff followed NICE guidelines and nationally recognised evidenced based care and treatment to implement care and assess needs and treatment.

The provider and staff followed NICE guidelines and nationally recognised evidenced based care and treatment to assess needs and implement care and treatment. The provider generally followed NHS guidance for end of life care and treatment. The medical director reviewed guidance and implemented it. The provider monitored data such as referrals to the service and preferred place of care and preferred place of death. The service benchmarked for pressure ulcers, medicines incidents and falls as part of the Hospice UK patient safety project. Results showed that they had been below the UK average for falls, however; were higher for pressure ulcers. There was an audit schedule in place. From April 2023 to the time of assessment the average time from referral to admission was 2.1 days. For the same time period 85% of people admitted to the inpatient unit died in the hospice and 15% were discharged. The service participated in the care of the dying audit. In November 2023, the service reviewed the 30 deaths prior this date. The audit aimed to review if care in the last days of life complied with the five priorities of care, if there were any deficiencies in treatment or communication and if the recommendations from the previous audit, in 2022, had been implemented. It was found that there was a reduction in documented evidence within some care plans of communication about the recognition of dying and spiritual needs compared to 2022. There had been conversations with all patients about the do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) decision, however not all records included discussion with those close to them. Assessment of nutrition and hydration was completed prior to death and all patients were prescribed anticipatory medicines which aided responsive management of symptoms. The provider identified the factors influencing the gaps in patient records and proposed an action plan that had an emphasis on documentation completion.

We did not look at Consent to care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.