St John's Hospice

Updated 11 April 2024

St John’s Hospice is a charitable organisation located in Lancaster. The hospice provides palliative and end of life care for adults with life limiting illnesses. The staff team support people and their families, providing medical, nursing, personal, emotional support, therapy, and spiritual

care. They offer a ‘hospice at home’ service in the local community to assist individuals living at home and a variety of day and support services.

The hospice is purpose built and provides accommodation on the inpatient ward for up to 13 patients. The hospice is close to public transport routes and not too far from the town centre. It is set in large well-maintained gardens with adequate parking and clearly defined parking areas for disabled visitors. Situated in the grounds of the hospice is the ‘Forget Me Not Centre’, which provides counselling and bereavement services for patients and relatives. Situated in the centre of the hospice is the ‘Courtyard Café’ which serves as the hub for the local community.

Services are free to people, with St John’s Hospice raising funds which is achieved through fundraising and charitable donations, with the remaining funds paid by NHS.

St John’s Hospice has been registered with the Care Quality Commission since 21 January 2011.

The Director of Nursing and Quality was the registered manager and had been in place since 30 April 2014.

The service is registered to provide the regulated activity, treatment of disease, disorder, or injury.

We previously inspected and rated St John’s Hospice as outstanding when we visited in July 2016, the report was published November 2016.

Updated 11 April 2024

Our rating of this service went down. We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and kept them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. Infection control was well managed. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. Medicines were safely managed by staff and lessons were learnt from any incidents that occurred.
• Staff planned and provided good care and treatment, patients received enough to eat and drink, and pain relief when needed. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good care and treatment plans. Key services were available seven days a week for people to access.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families, and carers.
• The provider made it easy for people to give feedback and people could access the service when they needed it.
• Managers ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The provider engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services.

However:

• We found personal protective equipment that expired and had not been removed.

Updated 11 April 2024

See main summary