• Hospice service

Forget Me Not Children's Hospice

Overall: Outstanding read more about inspection ratings

Russell House, Fell Greave Road, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD2 1NH (01484) 411040

Provided and run by:
The Forget Me Not Children's Hospice Limited

All Inspections

24-25 October 2023

During a routine inspection

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

  • The service consistently had enough staff to provide highly individualised and personalised care for children and young people and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect children and young people from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk to a high standard. Staff assessed risks to children and young people, managed and acted on them and kept clear and concise care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and always learned lessons from them.
  • Staff provided innovative and proactive care and treatment. Staff consistently gave children and young people enough to eat and drink and gave them pain relief when they needed it in response to individualised plans. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked efficiently as a team for the benefit of children and young people. Staff provided a truly holistic approach to care. They advised children, young people and their families on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week.
  • Staff were consistently committed to treating children, young people and their families with compassion and kindness. Staff respected their privacy and dignity, found innovative ways to meet their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided strong, caring and respectful emotional support to children and young people, families and carers in a personalised way. They worked in active partnership with children and families, ensuring children and families felt like they mattered.
  • The service used innovative approaches to providing planned care to meet the needs of local people. They were proactive in developing person-centred pathways with other service providers. They consistently worked to understand and take into account children, young people and families individual needs in order to deliver care that met these needs. The service made it easy for people to give feedback. They engaged families and children in regular service reviews and learning events. People could access the service when they needed.
  • Leaders were dedicated to providing a compassionate, inclusive and highly effective service. They ran services well using reliable information systems and consistently supported staff to develop their skills to succeed in the delivery of a high-quality service. Staff shared an understanding of the service’s vision and values and were inspired to strive to deliver a service they were proud of. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on providing best practice to meet the needs of children, young people and families receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service was committed to seeking constructive engagement with children, young people, families and a wide range of local organisations and community groups to plan and manage services. All staff were empowered and committed to improving services through a systematic and embedded approach. Innovation was celebrated.

However:

  • The service did not have a direct link with specialist mental health crisis services.
  • The service did not have health promotion leaflets readily available.

6 August 2014

During a routine inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to pilot a new inspection process being introduced by CQC which looks at the overall quality of the service.

The inspection was unannounced.

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice provides palliative care services to children and young people from across Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield. The support can be provided at home via the hospice at home service or at the children’s hospice known as Russell House. Russell House is a purpose built hospice which opened in December 2012 with places for four children.

There were four children in Russell House on the day of the inspection. A registered manager was in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider.

Staff were highly dedicated and passionate about their roles in caring for children and they placed children at the very heart of their work. Staff focus was on enhancing the quality of life for children and their families and this was unanimously confirmed by families we spoke with.

Teamwork was highly evident throughout the service with all members of staff valued and respected in their roles.

Care was provided to an extremely high standard in a child-centred environment. Care and support was extended to children’s family members in a highly inclusive and holistic way.

Families highly commended the service and gave extensive praise for the staff and the management team. Families described the support they received as being like an extension of their own family and they valued the extended services, such as short breaks, bereavement support, siblings groups, play therapy, music therapy and counselling.

There was excellent leadership and management of the service which resulted in children’s care being outstanding. The chief executive demonstrated clear goals for the development of the service with emphasis on ensuring quality experiences for children and their families. The organisations values were known by staff and embedded in practice.

22 April 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with two relatives of people who used this service and one person described the service as a 'god send'. Both relatives told us they would recommend the service. They told us the staff were very good and they trusted them. The staff we spoke with told us that they provided care for the same people which meant people receiving the service received consistent care.

We looked at two sets of care records and saw there were processes in place to identify people's needs. We saw care documentation was person centred and there was evidence of involvement. This ranged from how people liked to be positioned at night though to end of life care planning. We saw and heard how hospice staff liaised with other health and social care professionals, particularly when a person's needs had changed. We also saw from people's care records that staff attended mulit-agency meetings demonstrating co-operation with other providers of care.

We looked around Russell House which was a pleasant, clean and homely environment. We saw there were a variety of rooms available for people to their spend time. This included sensory rooms, music rooms, play rooms and and IT suite. We were told by the director of care that people using the service and their relatives had been involved in planning certain aspects of the building. We saw evidence of these consultation events and how their suggestions had been implemented.