Oakhaven Hospice

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We looked for evidence that people and communities were always at the centre of how care was planned and delivered. We checked that the health and care needs of people and communities were understood, and they were actively involved in planning care that met these needs. We also looked for evidence that people could access care in ways that met their personal circumstances and protected equality characteristics.

At our last assessment we rated this key question outstanding. At this assessment the rating has changed to good.

This service scored 79 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The evidence showed an exceptional standard. The service was exceptional at making sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs.

Patients and their families received personalised care that was responsive to all of their needs through a wide range of services provided by the hospice. These included all aspects of physical, spiritual, social, emotional and psychological care.

The wellbeing hub at the Coates centre offered a wide range of drop in sessions, courses, information events and social events. Some of these included art and crafts, chair yoga, bereavement support group and dementia support.

A thank you card from a relative who had attended a course at the Coates centre read ‘You helped me through a lengthy, suffocating time of grief when at times I only felt "comfortable" was with you and other bereaved wives and husbands.’

Patients who attended the day hospice were reviewed after 12 weeks and were able to provide feedback through this.We reviewed a number of comment cards where patients expressed how much they had benefitted from the day hospice in terms of symptom management, socially and their mental wellbeing. A feedback read ‘before I came to the hospice, I had lost the ability to play golf and socialise and be independent, as I did, and I did not really feel different to other people. Since attending Day Hospice, I feel like everyone else normal. I do not think about my illness and everything I have lost.’

Leaders told us how they had seen a need for a dementia specialist nurse in the community and had since employed an admiral nurse who supported dementia patients and also provided training for staff.

The hospice had recently rolled out the Oliver McGowan training to all staff. The Oliver McGowan mandatory training is a standardised training programme for health and social care staff on learning disability and autism.

Staff told us they consulted their local learning disability team for advice and support and used an assessment tool to help support people living with a learning disability.

The hospice provided an example of how they were currently supporting a patient with learning disability by liaising with not only the GP and community but also the patient’s learning disability specialist nurse and carried out joint visits when required. This allowed for a wider MDT input which led to a more effective and personalised treatment plans.

The hospice provided a bereavement service and staff told us a card was sent out to all who had lost a loved one with the offer of support if it is needed.

The evidence showed a good standard. The service understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

The community nursing team were based at the hospice and worked closely with GP's, district nurses and other agencies to ensure patient care was joined up and coordinated well. The hospice also worked alongside other services and partners and involved them in discussions and decisions around future care of the patient including transfer to another care provider.

The hospice provided an example of how they were working with the community nursing reablement team (CNRT) and wheelchair services to support a patient and commented on how the joint working with, and communication between multiple members of CNRT, dietician and Speech and Language therapist (SALT) had been superb and had a massively positive impact on the care of this patient as it allowed a seamless continuity of care. The SALT team refers to Speech and Language Therapy team, which is a group of qualified speech and language therapists who provide assessment, diagnosis, therapy, advice, and support to people of all ages experiencing difficulties with speech, language, communication, and swallowing.

Staff gave an example of a time when a patient was being transferred to the hospice via an ambulance, the paramedic team was informed of the patients resuscitation preference in order to ensure continuity and clarity of care. This proactive communication enabled emergency responders to act in accordance with the patient’s values and decisions, should they be called upon.

Feedback from a family member read ‘I am writing to thank you for the way in which you have coordinated the care my wife and I have received from the Hospice over the past few weeks. The interaction with the various agencies of hospital, carers, nurses and doctors has been seamless’.

For inpatients whose preferred place of care was their home, the hospice endeavored to discharge them in a timely manner to facilitate this. The hospice worked closely with their local acute trusts and hospitals to facilitate transfer to the hospice when requested for preferred place of death (PPD). This was in line with the general medical council guidance.

Feedback from a family member read ‘ My father was adamant that he did not want to return to the hospital and we were immensely grateful that the hospice facilitated this which allowed him to spend his last few days in such a warm environment.’

The evidence showed a good standard. The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

The hospice offered various services which the patients and their families could access for advice and support depending on their specific needs. These included the community nursing team, access to the day hospice, inpatient unit, a range of therapies and patient and family support.

Patients, families and carers were provided with a guide to Oakhaven booklet which contained information on the services provided by the hospice, being a carer and planning ahead etc.

Patients also had access to a number of up to date printed and digital leaflets which provided information on symptom management and advice in palliative care. Patients and families could access the hospice website to view the full repository of leaflets and use the accessibility tool bar to support with additional needs such as translation to a range of different languages, text to speech and focused text.

Patients also had access to a number of leaflets which provided information on symptom management and advice in palliative care.

Families and relatives were provided with a caring for someone in the last days and hours of life leaflet which helped families understand the care needed when someone was dying. We spoke with a family member who had been given the leaflet and had found this very helpful when caring for their loved one at the end of their life.

A telephone advice and support line was available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to those who required this.

The evidence showed a good standard. The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. They involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

The hospice valued feedback from patients and members of the public and viewed this as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future. Staff had access to the learning from concerns and complaints policy which was in date and due for a review in 2026.

Patients knew how to feedback on their care and were encouraged and supported to do so. The service sought feedback from people, their relatives, staff and community professionals using various different methods, and this was overwhelmingly positive.

Concerns and complaints could be raised through informal and formal means, including a dedicated section on the hospice’s website. Families could also feedback through the hospice’s patient and family support service evaluation form.

Following a complaint about expectation of the patients and families regarding the level of services they delivered, the hospice were revising their patient/public leaflet detailing services to be explicit about what they could offer.

The hospice produced a yearly concerns, complaints and compliments report in order to identify learning and improve and build on good practices. We reviewed this report for July 2025 which stated that the hospice had received 26 concerns and complaints during April 2024 until March 2025, of which only 9 related to clinical services. Some of these concerns were themed around discharge planning and overnight communication with relatives of patients in IPU. Following this, the hospice had taken forward actions to address these which included ensuring staff offered families the opportunity for discussion and informing families of delays when ordering equipment.

The evidence showed a good standard. The service made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

The hospice was accessible to anyone with a new forest GP and the hospice referrals were received from GP's, clinical nurse specialists or consultants.

The hospice used caseload management to ensure that patients were allocated depending on their needs to the team with the right level of expertise. This ensured that waiting lists for community patients are minimised. These were managed well with only 5 patients on the list.

The community registered nursing team visited patients in their own homes which helped reduce hospital admissions for end-of-life patients. Crisis care was available and allocated as required on the day. The hospice pastoral and spiritual care team also went out to visit people in their own homes.

Patients attending day hospice, with mobility issues, were picked up by day hospice volunteer drivers and dropped off home afterwards. A 12 week patient review from a day hospice patient read ‘I get picked up with another patient which makes the journey there and back a social event’.

The hospice told us they had recently undertaken a series of community engagement events when refreshing their organisational strategy. They showed us a presentation which summarised the feedback they received from the public around perceived barriers to accessing the hospice service. Some of these included the environment and a family member doubted the widow of a patient could face being in the same place with all the memories of her husband.

A telephone advice and support line was available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for patients and family members.

The evidence showed a good standard. Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Staff and leaders listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and used this information to provide exceptionally tailored care, support and treatment in response to this.

The hospice proactively sought out ways to address barriers in order to improve people’s experience, act on information about people’s experiences and outcomes and allocate resources and opportunities to achieve equity.

The hospice held various public engagement events in order to connect with the less represented ethnic groups and others who may be subjected to inequality as exemplified by learning disabilities, the homeless and veterans.

The hospice provided examples of how they supported patients with learning disabilities and patients who did not communicate verbally by using tools to help communicate with them.

In order to support people with dementia, the hospice had worked in partnership with Dementia UK and implemented the role of an admiral nurse to support the challenges experienced by dementia patients and their families.

In addition to this the hospice had recently connected with the Learning Disability Nurses from a local hospital trust to undertake an engagement project with people with a learning disability.

The hospice also had connections with the veterans covenant healthcare alliance (VCHA) to identify those veterans who needed support.

The evidence showed a good standard. People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

All patients assessed by any of the clinical services in the hospice were offered an opportunity to discuss Advance Care Plans (ACP). Patients were encouraged to consider future scenarios and what their preferred clinical response would be, especially if they were unable to communicate their wishes at the time.

Staff worked closely with patients and their families regarding their plans for the future and encouraged patients to complete their personalised future planning document.

We accompanied the community team on a visit to a patients home and observed conversations on planning for future. The discussions involved the exploration of a patient’s understanding of their condition, their values and beliefs around end-of-life care and what mattered most to them.

The hospice provided examples of how discharge planning and communication around this was improved following patient feedback.