The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield, as outstanding for a second time following its latest inspection in October.
Forget Me Not Hospice is a nurse and therapy-led hospice 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 include nursing and medical care, hydrotherapy, music therapy, counselling, end of life care and bereavement support.
This inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services.
Following the inspection, the service has been rated outstanding overall, as well as for being caring and responsive. Safe, effective and well-led are rated as good.
Sheila Grant, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:
“When we inspected Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, we found a service where managers and staff went the extra mile to ensure children and their families received the best possible care. The service understood what children and their families needed, both clinically, and emotionally at a really difficult time in their lives.
“We heard that families were made to feel like they were the only family the staff were working with at any moment in time, and all feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the kind and discreet nature of staff.
“We saw support being offered to every family member and heard positive examples of care that had been provided to fathers. Staff understood the experiences that different family members had and clearly saw each person as an individual whilst also working with families as a whole unit.
“We were also impressed that the service was working in collaboration with local hospitals to provide more support to families who had experienced the devastating loss of a child through stillbirth.
“All staff should be extremely proud of the care they’re providing to children and their families. They clearly work hard to provide exceptional care and other providers should look at this report to see if there’s anything they can learn.”
Inspectors found:
- Leaders provided a compassionate, inclusive, and highly effective service
- Staff shared an understanding of the service’s vision and values and were inspired to strive to deliver a service they are proud of
- The service controlled infection risk to a high standard
- Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent
- Staff felt respected, supported, and valued by their managers
- The service managed safety incidents well and always learned lessons from them
- Innovation was always celebrated and encouraged.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.