The Earl Mountbatten Hospice has been judged to be ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the highest possible rating given by the independent regulator.
The news puts the Island’s hospice alongside a small group of other hospices across the country which have achieved a similar rating.
As independent healthcare providers, UK hospices are inspected under a unique framework, different from that of hospitals and care homes. Inspectors are specifically trained to examine all areas of hospice service delivery, including inpatient care, day care and care at home.
The CQC inspection was carried out by 4 inspectors on 30th and 31st January 2017 and they looked at every aspect of the hospice’s work. During the visit, the inspectors spoke with a wide range of key health and social care partners, staff and volunteers, as well as people who use our services and their relatives.
The report’s overall summary included these 3 comments, among others:
“Earl Mountbatten Hospice provided an outstanding service that creatively enabled people to choose where they wanted to receive end of life care”
“People spoke of a service that was tailor-made for them, highly personalised and focused on their individual needs and that of their families”
“People, their relatives and staff spoke overwhelmingly of the positive support, guidance and healthcare interventions people had received. They were full of praise for the staff in terms of their exceptional kindness, compassion and knowledge about end of life matters. Staff went out of their way to support the needs of their wider community….”
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The hospice’s catering and food services were also praised.
The Newport-based charity was rated ‘outstanding’ in 3 of the 5 inspection areas – for being caring, responsive and well-led. The hospice was judged ‘good’ for being safe and effective. The overall rating is ‘outstanding’.
Nigel Hartley, Chief Executive, said:
“I am absolutely delighted for our staff, volunteers, Islanders and supporters, and we have achieved this remarkable result through working closely together. Our outstanding rating is testament to the hard work and professionalism of everyone involved in supporting people in the last years of life and their families and friends.”
The report highlighted comments from people who use the services, saying that they valued their relationships with staff and felt that they often went ‘the extra mile’ for them when providing care and support. Others praised the work of the hospice’s community team which, on any one day, cares and supports over 600 people in their own homes.
The report recognised the hospice’s work in the community, referencing the partnership with KissyPuppy, the Sophie Rolf Trust. The report said:
“Staff viewed the hospice as belonging to the Isle of Wight and were highly motivated and inspired to offer support that was kind and compassionate to the community as a whole. We heard examples of staffs’ commitment to go the extra mile for the community, creatively overcoming any obstacles to achieving this.”
It also praised the work of the hospice’s Schools Programme, which it said was an ‘outstanding’ example of working with people using the hospice and with young people and schools to raise awareness of living with long term illness, end of life care, and issues around death and dying.
Inspectors had observed many of the everyday values and behaviours of staff, which showed people were treated with respect. According to the CQC report, people told inspectors about receiving a service that was outstandingly responsive to their needs and wishes.
Developments such as the hospice’s recently appointed dementia-specialist nurse were highlighted, as was the training being given to local nursing and care homes and domiciliary care providers to develop their knowledge and skills to more appropriately support older people at the end of their lives.
The report also said that they were impressed by the ‘excellent leadership and governance’ at the hospice and talked about the kindness and warmth which went from the ‘floor to the board’. ‘The values and aims of the hospice were visible throughout the service and were developed with the input of staff and volunteers’
Nigel Hartley said:
“We must thank our supporters and donors who continue their efforts to help keep our services viable through their tireless fundraising and generous giving. I would like to thank everyone who supports us, whether through volunteering, taking part in our events, visiting our ten shops or remembering us in their Will. Every year, we must raise over £5million to deliver our outstanding care across our Island.
“This is such a great achievement and glowing endorsement of our work. However, we cannot stand still and be complacent as there is still so much to be done. We will continue to build upon the excellent care and services being provided, and we will expand our current training programmes to ensure our staff’s knowledge and experience in end of life care can be shared across the Isle of Wight’s health and social care sector. We want to influence all of our partners to deliver outstanding services alongside us”.
Sara Weech, Chair of the Hospice Board of Trustees added:
“The Care Quality Commission is fulsome in its praise for the breadth and depth of the care we provide for the residents on the Island, so it is extra gratifying to have it acknowledged externally.
“The inspectors have visited many hospices across the country and undertaken the same level of inspection so they are very clear what outstanding looks like and we can be very pleased we have measured up so well.”
A full report of the inspection can be found on Earl Mountbatten Hospice’s website www.iwhospice.org and also the CQC website www.cqc.org.uk.
