Halton Haven 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

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

Good: This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

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.

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 made 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 their needs through a wide range of services provided by the hospice. These included all aspects of physical, spiritual, social, emotional and psychological care.

Care plans were person centred and were created in collaboration with the patient and/or families and observed changes which made to the care plan with regular reviews taking place.

We read many testimonials from patients and families where they described the person-centred care they or their families witnessed their loved ones receiving, many cards and expressions of gratitude and profoundly thanking the staff.

The service demonstrated its commitment to adapting to the needs of people living with dementia by providing dementia focused facilities and initiatives, including a dementia friendly inpatient room, a dementia social café, and ‘Singing for the Brain’.

The hospice had rolled out the Oliver McGowan training to all staff and compliance was at 94%. The Oliver McGowan mandatory training is a standardised training programme for health and social care staff on learning disability and autism.

We scored the service as 3. 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 service understood the diverse health and care needs of people and its local community. The service worked with local organisations and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to improve the quality of care provided to patients.

Care was joined up between the different organisations and was flexible and supported choice and continuity.

Patients experienced smooth transitions between different services due to the hospice's close collaboration with health and social care providers.

Patients could access the hospice when they needed it and received the right care promptly and the hospice had provisions in place to risk assess referrals to allow emergency admissions to services to be prioritised. Potential discharge plans were discussed with patients and their loved ones early on to ensure their needs and preferences were considered.

The service held celebration and memory days for families to come together to celebrate their loved ones and get support from the community and the staff. This provided families with continued emotional support.

Feedback was continually positive about the service and about the way staff treated people and supported choice.

We scored the service as 3. 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 service had developed appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information for patients and families. The service provided leaflets and noticeboards which gave information about services available. The service also provided easy read booklet information.

There was a combination of onsite resources, personalised support, and digital accessibility demonstrating the hospice’s commitment to informing and supporting patients and their families throughout their journey.

The Halton Haven hospice website had information about services and support available. The website had accessible formats available which included a ‘read aloud’ function and recognised that some versions of older documents were not fully accessible and some videos did not have captions.

We scored the service as 3. 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.

Halton Haven Hospice had not received any formal complaints since 2022. Robust systems were in place to ensure that any concerns or complaints were identified, recorded, and addressed in line with the service complaints policy. The complaints policy was up to date and accessible to staff.

Feedback was proactively sought and regularly reviewed through the Friends and Family Test and patient and carer representative feedback, enabling early identification of learning opportunities and continuous improvement in the quality of care provided. The 2025 data showed a 100% positivity rating.

Patients were provided leaflets which were also in accessible and easy read formats to make a complaint if they wished to do so. The website also supported patients and carers with information on how to raise a complaint.

Staff fed back consistently that they were not aware of any complaints the service had received recently and were able to demonstrate they knew how to handle complaints appropriately and seek out support if required.

We scored the service as 3. 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.

Service performance was closely monitored in accordance with the hospice’s admissions policy. Each referral was carefully assessed to determine whether the hospice was able to meet the patient’s individual needs in line with the hospice admission criteria. The service also offered respite care.

The service has launched podcast series. The series explores key topics across palliative and end-of-life care and includes interviews with a range of contributors. This project supported their aim to engage the community, share expertise, and enhance public understanding of hospice care.

Staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage different groups of people in accessing the service. The service and staff worked together to remove barriers to care and accessible environmental risk assessments had been undertaken to promote accessibility.

We scored the service as 3. 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 within the service and the wider organisation promoted a culture in which the people using the service felt empowered to give their views.

The service had recently invested in enhanced regional partnership working through active collaboration with neighbouring hospices which enabled them to manage capacity and assess suitability for admissions. The service had developed a cross-hospice working group focused on identifying new opportunities for shared practice, efficiency, and effectiveness, strengthening their collective influence in driving palliative and end-of-life care.

Internal audits and governance reporting systems identified the need to reduce admission times, which had been successfully shortened from three days to 1.5 days.

The provider had undertaken assessments of their policies and procedures to ensure they did not place vulnerable people or people with protected characteristics at a disadvantage.

We scored the service as 3. 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.

Staff and the chaplaincy service completed the patient’s social and spiritual requests and, where appropriate, assisted with funeral planning by liaising with the patient’s preferred funeral directors.

The service checked for any practical issues, concerns, or worries providing guidance and information and, where required, staff signposted or referred patients and families to the relevant organisations or authorities.

The service supported the local community specialist palliative care outpatients clinic by hosting the service at the hospice. Alongside this, they had plans to commence in June 2026 to establish a nurse led advance care planning service, to ensure patients received timely, holistic discussions about their future care. Staff had engaged with training in advance care planning and advanced communication skills.

Staff ensured all relevant healthcare professionals and other relevant bodies are involved in planning the care and treatment of people with complex needs.