St Gemma's Hospice - Leeds

Updated 11 January 2022

St Gemma’s University Teaching Hospice provides palliative and end of life care support to patients living in Leeds with a life limiting or terminal illness. The hospice has 32 inpatient beds, five of which were nurse led beds for patients without complex palliative care needs who wished to die at the hospice. At the time of the inspection the hospice had reduced be occupancy to allow for social distancing requirements and was caring for up to 16 patients on the inpatient unit.

Facilities include an inpatient unit, community and specialist palliative care services, day and out-patient services. Services include complimentary therapies and emotional, spiritual and bereavement support. The Academic Unit of Palliative Care is managed in partnership with the local university and undertakes research projects and delivers training in a range of specialist palliative care subjects.

The chief nurse was the registered manager.

The service is registered with the CQC to provide:

Treatment of disease, disorder and injury

Diagnostic and screening procedures

Updated 11 January 2022

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as outstanding because:

• There was a holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment to people who use the services. The safe use of innovative and pioneering approaches to care and how it is delivered were actively encouraged. All staff were actively engaged in activities to monitor and improve quality and outcomes. Teams were committed to working collaboratively and found innovative ways to deliver more joined-up care to people who use services.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers and went above and beyond what would have been expected to meet individual needs and wishes.
• Services were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care and were tailored to meet patients’ individual needs and wishes. The service planned and provided care in a way that fully met the needs of local people and the communities served. It also worked proactively with others in the wider system and local organisations to plan care and improve services.
• Leaders ran services well, led innovations and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff were motivated to provide the best care they could for their patients. There was a common focus on improving the quality and sustainability of care and people’s experiences. Staff were proud to work at the service and felt respected, supported and valued. Leaders operated effective governance processes and staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients, staff and the local community.

We found areas of good practice:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.

Updated 11 January 2022

• Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as outstanding. See the summary above for details.