- Hospice service
Pilgrims Hospice Ashford
Report from 1 October 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We carried out an on-site unannounced comprehensive assessment of Pilgrims Hospice Ashford on 21 May 2025 and focused on the assessment of hospice services for adults. The assessment was undertaken due to the age of ratings and time since the previous inspection. We reviewed safe, effective, responsive, caring and well led key questions. At our last assessment in 2015, the overall rating for this service was Outstanding.
At this assessment we rated Pilgrims Hospice Outstanding overall. We rated safe and effective as good because care and treatment was safe, patients received good care, and the service had effective governance arrangements.
We rated caring, responsive and well-led Outstanding because patients were supported to be as independent as possible having both choice and control around their care, and treatment. Patients were encouraged to involve family and people who knew them well in their care. Patients were listened to and encouraged to give feedback on their experience of care within the service.
Pilgrims Hospice Ashford is a charity hospice that provides free care and support to adults in the community who have a life limiting illness and their families. As an independent registered charity, Pilgrims Hospice Ashford relies on donations and gifts in wills for most of its income with the remainder (20%) funded by the NHS.
The hospice offers specialist palliative care, advice and clinical support for adults with life limiting illness and their families. They deliver physical, emotional and holistic care through a multi-disciplinary team of doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, counsellors, spiritual leaders and a range of volunteers. The location has a day centre and capacity for 12 persons in their in-patient unit (IPU). The service has facilities which include dedicated family suites, wellbeing café with large communal area / dining area, treatment rooms and private meeting rooms.
Medical, nursing, allied healthcare professionals and palliative care clinical nurse specialists (CNS) worked across the hospice’s inpatient unit, there is an onsite living well service supporting patients with life limiting conditions to live independently in their own homes and community. This aspect of the service includes providing education and information to empower people and their loved ones to engage in difficult conversations about death and dying and advanced care planning, peer support sessions, nurse led face to face and telephone support, complimentary therapies, counselling services, and a range of small group activities, for example art and gardening.
We spoke with members of staff (including managers, pharmacist, doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, chef, therapists, a social worker, administrative staff and volunteers. We also attended a handover and Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meeting.
The community team provided services for people in their own homes and at an outreach clinic in Lydd, Kent. There is a Hospice at Home service that provided personal care to people in the community and was available the same day if it was needed.
The Hospice at Home service supported people in the last days when they approached the end of their life. Support groups for carers were available, and an advice line was available 24 hours a day.
The evidence showed a good standard. The service detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with 1 patient who was an outpatient and had been an in-patient for an extended stay and we reviewed 5 patient care and treatment records. Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity. People were treated as individuals and staff made sure their care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. Patients and where appropriate, their relatives were supported to be actively involved in making decisions about the care they received. Patients were listened to and encouraged to feedback on their experience of care within the service.
Patients received accurate and up to date information from staff about their care and treatment in a way they understood. Patients and their families had access to information in different formats if they required this. The hospice made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Information on these were displayed throughout the hospice.
We looked at a public patient feedback website and saw that they had received 122 reviews posted between July 2024 and June 2025 that were all positive. We also saw 13 positive reviews for a doctor who was the palliative medicine specialist working at Pilgrims Hospice Ashford.
When patients were discharged from the ward, those that were able were asked to complete a Views on Care assessment, one of the questions asked, “do you think the care team had made a difference to how things are”. People (including patients and their loved ones between July 2024 to June 2025 all provided positive feedback about Pilgrims Hospice Ashford. The survey identified 100% of people rated the service as either excellent or good. The service listened to, acted upon patients, loved one’s feedback, and worked closely with network partners and patient groups to improve and tailor services for everyone.