Forget Me Not Children's Hospice

Updated 17 January 2024

Forget Me Not Hospice is a nurse and therapy led service which provides support to children with life-shortening conditions, their families and families of those living with the loss of a child across West Yorkshire. Services are provided from a purpose-built hospice environment, families homes and in hospitals across West Yorkshire. Service provision can start during pregnancy and continue for as long as there is a therapeutic need.

Services include nursing and medical care, hydrotherapy, music therapy and counselling, end of life care and bereavement support. Services provided by the care team are provided to the children and families in the Russell House hospice environment or within their own home. Services provided by the family support team are provided within Rusell House, homes or local community venues.

The service was registered for the treatment of disease, disorder or injury and had a registered manager in place.

We last inspected the service in 2015 when it received a rating of ‘outstanding’.

Updated 17 January 2024

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.

Updated 17 January 2024

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