Halton Haven Hospice

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good.

Good: This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

We looked for evidence that people were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that people’s privacy and dignity was respected, that they understood that they and their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence that every effort was made to take people’s wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Throughout the inspection, we observed staff and volunteers consistently providing excellent care and support to patients.

Patients told us staff were kind and caring and their privacy and dignity was respected.

Staff ensured that patient’s confidentiality was maintained within the hospice and when information was provided to external partners.

We reviewed patient feedback received by the hospice in the last 6 months which was overwhelmingly positive. We observed many feedback letters, notes and cards written to the staff, thanking them for the care their loved ones received, as well as the care of families. We heard how families were able to spend quality time with their loved ones and staff facilitated and supported family celebrations and events.

We observed feedback from patients who said “It’s not only pain management they manage, they manage the pain which is in your soul and heart that is really important, they manage my soul pain not just my symptoms. They make sure you are mentally, physically and emotionally in every way okay”.

A feedback form for the hospice service was sent after the bereavement. Legacy of Love boxes were offered to significant others reflecting compassion and creativity from staff to provide meaningful, lasting memory aids, responding directly to staff and family feedback.

Counsellor presence on the wards ensured families felt supported before, during, and after bereavement.

The service had a pastoral and spiritual care team who supported patients and families if needed. The pastoral team also provided telephone support and chaplain service. The team reported good relationships with local faith leaders and supported access to these for patients and families as needed.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

The service made adjustments for patients by ensuring people’s access to premises and by meeting patients’ specific communication needs.

Staff ensured that patients could obtain information on treatments, local services, patients’ rights, how to make a complaint or share compliments and feedback.

The service shared a recent patient story of their wishes being met by experiencing a traditional English Christmas in their home in the UK as they were unable to go back to their place of birth, the service also arranged for the family to travel from abroad to be with the patient.

Managers ensured that staff and patients had easy access to interpreters and/or signers.

Patients had a choice of food to meet the dietary requirements of religious and ethnic groups and to account for allergies and intolerances.

Staff ensured that patients had access to appropriate spiritual support. The service provided a leaflet to demonstrate the chaplaincy services and support they offered as well as celebrant services to facilitate and celebrate vow renewals and commitment ceremonies and support with patients leaving their life story or eulogy to be read at their own funeral and a copy to be kept safely for loved ones.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Staff told us they encouraged people to be involved in their own care during their initial assessments by advising them of the services, including any limitations and supporting their independence as well as making them feel empowered to make those choices.

Patients told us that they had been involved in all decisions about their care. One patient told us, “They have made sure my pillows are a certain way and I have certain likes and dislikes and nothing could be done better”.

Staff provided us with an example of a patient who was not keen to increase their medication. Other less medical options were proposed and discussed such as physiotherapy and complementary therapy which the patient gladly accepted.

Staff shared a patient’s preference to bring in their own recliner chair and equipment into the service as they were more comfortable and familiar to them.

The premises and facilities were accessible for all. All entrances had ramp access, and all doors were wider width for wheelchair access.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

During our assessment, we observed that staff were attentive, approachable, and proactive in identifying and addressing patient concerns, whether related to physical comfort, emotional wellbeing, or practical support.

The service had both a multi-faith room and a quiet room, which could be used by anyone using or visiting the service.

Staff were aware of and dealt with any specific risk issues, such as swallowing difficulties, falls or pressure ulcers and care planned for these accordingly and identified and responded to changing risks to patients.

The kitchen staff were responsive to changes in diet and food consistency as patients’ swallowing needs evolved, demonstrating the hospice’s holistic and person-centred approach to care.

If patients needed specialist or adaptive equipment their needs were assessed, and the service had a physiotherapist on site.

A patient told us that when call bells were activated, staff responded quickly.

The service offered and signposted to various bereavement support and resources. The service ran bereavement cafes for loved ones and had found these to be a great success and support for the local community.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff felt positive and proud about working for the provider and their team, felt respected, supported and valued. They told us consistently the hospice was a nice place to work, they felt supported and that senior managers were both visible and approachable. Many said communication had improved greatly and valued the visibility of the management team and leaders in the service.

Staff had access and were supported to complete a workplace health needs assessment to support for their own physical and emotional health needs through an occupational health service. Staff are also provided useful links and signposted to health and wellbeing organisations and the offer of a NHS health check

Halton Haven facilitated a session called ‘Positivitea’ which was a monthly, structured group session that uses ‘Positive Art of Reflection’ an interactive, case-based reflective exercise involving medical staff, nurses, and health support workers. The aim was to explore what went well, what didn’t, and the emotional impact of complex or challenging patient care scenarios. This method promoted a workplace culture of inclusivity and emotional support to enable staff to deliver safe, person-centred care. 

Recognition for staff were facilitated by the management team, on a monthly basis staff nominated colleagues for praise and gratitude on their service ‘Thankful Tree’, each month the messages were shared with staff.

The service monitored their staff sickness and supported welfare meetings upon staff returning to work with additional support evidenced.

Mental health first aiders were trained staff in the service with a view to support more staff to be trained and support their colleagues in the workplace.

The provider recognised staff success within the service. The service had received a bronze ‘Healthy Workplace Award’ from a local improvement team.

Staff appraisals included conversations about career development and how it could be supported. The appraisal schedule was provided to evidence career discussions that had already taken place and planned in for 2026 to also support the review and planned changes of the staff and medical supervision and appraisal process underway in the service.