• Hospice service

North Yorkshire Hospice Care

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Saint Michael's Hospice, Crimple House, Hornbeam Park Avenue, Harrogate, HG2 8NA (01423) 879687

Provided and run by:
North Yorkshire Hospice Care

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 1 March 2024

Saint Michael’s Hospice is operated by North Yorkshire Hospice Care (NYHC).

North Yorkshire Hospice Care (NYHC) is an independent charity with a family of services, these included Saint Michaels Hospice, Herriot Hospice Homecare and Just ‘B’. The services span the Harrogate and Rural district, and the Hambleton and Richmondshire district in North Yorkshire.

The hospice provided a range of services including inpatient and community end of life care, symptom management, wellbeing services, a breathlessness outpatient clinic and lymphoedema management to people.

The service is registered to provide treatment of disease, disorder to people over 18 years of age. The service had a registered manager and controlled drugs accountable officer in place at the time of inspection.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 1 March 2024

Our rating of this location improved. We rated it as good because:

We rated it as good because:

  • The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills and understood how to protect patients from abuse. The service-controlled infection risk well. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
  • Staff provided good care and treatment and gave patients pain relief when they needed it. 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 information.
  • 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 service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback.
  • Leaders 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 felt respected, supported, and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

  • Checks of emergency medications were not always effective.
  • Staff were not always deployed in a way which enabled people to always access the service when they needed it.