Dorothy House Hospice Care

Updated 17 August 2022

Dorothy House Hospice is a registered provider of specialist palliative and end of life care for people, over the age of 18 years, irrespective of diagnosis. Dorothy House Hospice is registered for 10 beds, the inpatient unit had eight single rooms and one double room, all with en-suite bathroom facilities. The service provides inpatient care for people needing help with complex symptom management, pain control and end of life care. The service also provides home care

People are referred to the hospice by health professionals, in liaison with their GP or hospital consultant or they can self-refer.

The service had a dedicated day patient unit so they could provide more day services nearer to people's home.

Dorothy House Hospice has 788 volunteers working in the hospice and across charity shops. Of these, 463 are retail volunteers and were not part of this inspection. Of the 325 non-retail volunteers there are currently 133 active patient facing volunteers, the others were involved in fundraising or volunteers with the service’s enabling teams. However, the charity shops were not part of this inspection.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out an unannounced inspection on 09 June 2022.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The service was registered to provide: Treatment of disease, disorder and injury.

Updated 17 August 2022

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

• 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.
• People received outstanding care from highly motivated staff who developed exceptionally positive, caring and compassionate relationships with them. Staff gave patients enough to eat and drink and gave them pain relief when they needed it. The service had an open and positive culture that placed people at the heart of everything they did. Staff treated people with sensitivity, dignity and respect.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week.
• Staff treated patients and their loved ones with compassion and kindness, respected their dignity and privacy, and went above and beyond expectations to meet their individual needs and wishes. Staff were devoted to doing all they could to support the emotional needs of patients, families and carers to minimise their distress. Staff helped patients live every day to the fullest. Families and those that mattered to the person were supported to spend quality time with them.
• Services were planned and tailored to meet the complex needs of individual people, and the local population, in partnership with the wider health economy. The hospices’ services were delivered flexibly, by a responsive and passionate multidisciplinary team, providing choice and continuity of care for patients, their families and carers. The hospice planned and worked to improve awareness and access to palliative care for hard to reach communities. The service made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• The service needed to make improvements in their medicines management.

Updated 17 August 2022

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

• 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.
• People received outstanding care from highly motivated staff who developed exceptionally positive, caring and compassionate relationships with them. Staff gave patients enough to eat and drink and gave them pain relief when they needed it. The service had an open and positive culture that placed people at the heart of everything they did. Staff treated people with sensitivity, dignity and respect.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week.
• Staff treated patients and their loved ones with compassion and kindness, respected their dignity and privacy, and went above and beyond expectations to meet their individual needs and wishes. Staff were devoted to doing all they could to support the emotional needs of patients, families and carers to minimise their distress. Staff helped patients live every day to the fullest. Families and those that mattered to the person were supported to spend quality time with them.
• Services were planned and tailored to meet the complex needs of individual people, and the local population, in partnership with the wider health economy. The hospices’ services were delivered flexibly, by a responsive and passionate multidisciplinary team, providing choice and continuity of care for patients, their families and carers. The hospice planned and worked to improve awareness and access to palliative care for hard to reach communities. The service made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• The service needed to make improvements in their medicines management.