- Hospice service
Teesside Hospice Care Foundation
Assessment report published 21 August 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We carried out an assessment of Teesside Hospice with onsite visits on 16 and 17 June 2026. This was a routine assessment to review ratings due to the length of time since the last assessment.
Teesside Hospice provides care and treatment to patients over the age of 18 who require specialist palliative and end of life care. The service also provides support to patients loved ones and bereaved people including children from the age of seven years. The service includes inpatient care for symptom management and end of life care, a Wellbeing and Outreach team, a Lymphoedema team and Bereavement service.
We spoke with people using the service, families and supporters, as well as staff. We reviewed information provided by the service before and after the onsite visit. During this assessment, we looked at all quality statements across all five key questions. The rating reflects the findings from this inspection.
We found there was a strong learning culture, with effective systems and pathways to manage patients risks. There was enough skilled staff to carry out the role. Staff were able to protect people from abuse. Medicines were managed well.
Care and treatment provided was evidence based and people’s care was consistently monitored to improve outcomes.
We found the team provided an exceptional level of care and were able to respond to individual needs including those of patients, loved ones and each other.
Person centred care was embedded into daily routines. Patients and their families were empowered to be leaders in their care.
There were effective systems of accountability and governance systems supporting the delivery of sustainable and consistently high-quality care.
The service was last inspected in 2016 and rated good. Following this inspection the rating has changed to outstanding.
People's experience of this service
People told us their experience of using the service was ‘superb’, they were ‘so happy to be there’ and ‘could not fault anything’. Symptom management was highly individualised and communication was consistently clear. Care was always dignified and compassionate. Staff were described as ‘going above and beyond’ in their everyday care. Family members consistently returned to the service after losing their loved ones because they felt at peace and were able to seek solace there. They described their experiences positively as ones they ‘would never ever forget’.