The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by St Nicholas Hospice in Bury St Edmunds to be Outstanding overall following an inspection carried out in April.
St Nicholas Hospice provides day, community and inpatient care and support to people of West Suffolk and into Norfolk. The Sylvan Ward in Bury St Edmunds provides palliative and respite care for up to 12 people. The Orchard Centre in Bury St Edmunds and the Burton Centre in Haverhill provide support, care and activities for day patients and their families. The Community Hospice Team provides care, support and advice to patients in their own homes.
Inspectors found staff were caring and compassionate and people were being provided with safe, responsive, caring, effective and well-led care. A full report of the inspection has been published.
Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. St Nicholas Hospice was rated Outstanding overall, Outstanding for being caring and well-led and Good for being safe, effective and responsive.
Jemima Burnage, CQC’s Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care in the central region said:
“We were impressed with what we found during our inspection of St Nicholas Hospice and inspectors were struck by how caring staff were to those using the service.
“People spoke of a service that was tailor-made for them and their families saying that staff truly went the extra mile to offer understanding, empathy and choices
“Staff were motivated and keen to convey to inspectors their pride in the service they worked at. People spoke overwhelmingly of the positive support, guidance and healthcare interventions they had received. People were full of praise of the staff in terms of their kindness, compassion and knowledge about end of life matters.
“Staff knew, understood and responded to each person's diverse cultural, gender and spiritual needs in a caring and compassionate way. There were a wide variety of bereavement support services available for both adults and children.
“There was a kindness and warmth about the management team that made them approachable to everyone and people knew them by their first names and told us they were visible, approachable and solved matters raised.
“All of this meant people received a high standard of care, which is why it has been rated Outstanding.”
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said:
“The quality of care which our inspectors found here was exceptional and I am very pleased that we can celebrate the service’s achievements.
“An outstanding service is the result of a tremendous amount of hard work and commitment. I would like to thank and congratulate everyone involved.”
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Staff knew, understood and responded to each person's diverse cultural, gender and spiritual needs in a caring and compassionate way.
Jemima Burnage, Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care, central region