Sue Ryder - Manorlands 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

Caring Rating: Good

Caring- this meant we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good.

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

This service scored 80 ( out of 100) for this area.

This service scored 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service was exceptional at treating people with kindness, empathy and compassion and in how they respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff always treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Manorlands Hospice demonstrated commitment to treating people using the service with kindness, compassion, and respect for their privacy and dignity.

Feedback, gathered through surveys and feedback cards, was overwhelmingly positive, emphasising the staffs compassionate approach. One person commented “thank you for bringing so much compassion to our dad’s last days of his life”. Another said, “I feel the warmth and attention that was offered to my husband, and I was outstanding… it was very special”.

Staff really got to know the families, and the individual roles family members play. Staff took into account the needs of all family members, for example, a wife had been missing her husband making her a cup of tea since his physical mobility had changed. Staff had worked to find a way to support the husband to build this activity back into his weekly routine.

Staff were passionate about hearing people’s stories, understanding people and being part of people’s lives.

The service supported people in celebrating significant life events. Examples included arranging celebrations for wedding anniversaries and weddings.

We heard an example of staff thinking creatively to get a bed bound patient to a cricket match and for him to surprise his friends by getting there.

Comments about care included caring, friendly, professional, understanding, compassionate, respectful, wonderful, kind, responsive, supportive and comforting. One family member whose mother had been cared for in the hospice said to us “she was beautifully looked after and cared for, she was so welcomed and comfortable” and another when talking about the care her husband had received “he was so happy in the hospice, happy to the end.”

Speaking to kitchen staff we were told about making food for family members and looking after family members, “we’ve had wives in here and you could tell the husband wasn’t really eating anything at home, so we’ll make something for them as well and encourage them to eat here so we know they’ve had something, we say we’ve made the food anyway so it’s not a big deal for them to have it”.

Talking to a patient and his wife using the living well services they told us “We love coming, it’s the highlight of the week. It gets us out of the house, we have a chat about how everyone’s doing before we start, and we have a laugh… It’s good for me physically and emotionally as well.”

We also spoke to partner organisations and other stakeholders and were told “I met with the wife of a patient who had sadly died at Manorlands. She said, They were amazing. They just took all the problems off of my shoulders and they sorted it all. They allowed me to just be with [my husband] at the end. This is typical of what I hear from patients. I would be very happy for myself or a loved one to be cared for at Sue Ryder Manorlands”.

Positive feedback was shared with staff, and action plans addressed areas for improvement, ensuring continuous care enhancement.

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.

People were seen as individuals and treated with dignity and respect. Care given to patients was person-centred and they were encouraged to be involved in their care and treatment planning. Family members and people close to the patient were encouraged to be involved with the care, support and treatment of their loved ones. Every patient and family member we talked to told us the staff and the service were amazing, compassionate and caring. A family member told us “from the outpatient appointment all the way through, its individual, holistic, amazing care”.

Community staff gave us an example of support given to a patient with autism. The person’s sister attended the day therapy service and staff spoke at length to her about his individual needs prior to his attendance. We also heard examples of consideration given to people who were hearing and sight impaired.

Staff told us how they had people from lots of backgrounds using the hospice. ‘We have had Asian people come in and they have a lot of family involvement, so we accommodate that, we give them the bigger room, they want to be cared for by their own relatives, so we step back and allow for that’.

We were also told about a homeless man who had been supported with his preferred place of death and an example of a patient with a number of specific requirements. Staff went above and beyond to ensure that a future placement that met each of his specific requirements was found.

Whilst observing staff team meetings it was noted that the wider needs of the patients were discussed, including emotional and psychological needs, the patient was always kept at the centre of the discussions.

We saw an in date and version-controlled policy for spiritual care, cultural and religious rituals and practices relating to death, care of the dead and bereavement. We also saw an up-to-date list of contact details for local spiritual care practitioners from a range of religions.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Staff were visible and available to patients, supporting them to maintain their independence, choice and control. Patients and their family or supporters received good care and support. The service encouraged them to be involved in advanced care and treatment planning. This ensured the patient could complete their care journey as they wished, in the surroundings of their choice and with the people they loved by their side.

The rehabilitation team told us how they aimed to re-educate people around palliative care and see themselves as ‘specialists in enabling people to live a life’. They supported people to do activities and ‘provided tools for people to have control and power’.

Patients had individual choice, for example, they could have alcohol at the hospice. There was a policy around this.

A cleaner told us how she always checks with the patient that they are happy to have their room cleaned, “If patient is in and doesn’t want to be disturbed, I will come back later”.

We heard how the chef talked to any new patients to learn about what foods they liked or didn’tlike and any specific requirements. A family member of a Muslim patient told us “We could bring in our own food as well which was nice, because in our culture cooking for someone shows you’re thinking of them. When the children came in to visit, they always made sure there were things available for them. We never had any issues.”

Manorlands Hospice demonstrated commitment to supporting patients in maintaining meaningful relationships and promoting independence.

Choice and control were promoted; people were empowered to maintain autonomy over their treatment and daily routines and expressed confidence in their ability to exercise choice and control over their care.

Staff also gave an example of a lady with multiple pressure injuries who had chosen not to be moved, and had increased risk of further damage. Staff worked to find alternative and innovative ways to offer support to minimise further risks.

Patients and their family or supporters choices were included within care, treatment and discharge planning. The service was very responsive in enabling people to engage with their religious beliefs and/or preferences at the end of their life. One family member from the Muslim community told us “in our culture everyone wants to be involved and come and visit, it wasn’t a problem to visit at whatever time they got here – the staff would check with us first to make sure she felt up to it but it was never a problem, they managed those conversations with people really well”.

A lounge could be transformed into a residential space to accommodate larger families, promoting connection and togetherness. People were allowed to have pet visits, enhancing emotional wellbeing and comfort.

Staff helped enable patients to manage their own health and care, maximising independence wherever possible for example they delivered community wellbeing sessions such as music and memories, sound bath and tai chi.

The hospice encouraged and provided multiple structured feedback opportunities. Patients, families, carers and other hospice visitors could give feedback. They received surveys on experience of care, environment and mealtime as well as the Family and Friends Test. This ensured patient choice and control were continuously assessed and improved.

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.

We were told by an external stakeholder that “When I speak with staff, they speak with respect for their patients and are thoughtful about how best to meet their patient’s needs”.

People who rang the inpatient unit out of hours could be diverted to the out of hours palliative care consultants if required.

A family member told us about the hospice meeting the needs of her cousin. “The staff were really good when we were here and towards the end when we knew she didn’t have a lot of time left, she was adamant she wanted to spend her last week at home so her kids could spend proper quality time with her. They guided us through what they could do to support her at home, and the homecare was excellent. They set up everything she needed, we agreed how often they would visit, and they were always there. I had to call them a number of times to up her dosage and they were always quick to respond”.

Another family member of a different patient who had died at the hospice told us “they were there for him, whatever he needed, whatever comfort he needed”.

As well as the inpatient unit, Manorlands provided day services, where a range of programmes were offered to support patients and their careers through their palliative diagnosis, improve their quality of life and help people self-manage their condition.

Rehabilitation services such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy were also offered to help people maintain or improve their independence and live as fully as possible.

Complementary therapy, including reflexology, massage and aromatherapy were offered to patients. We heard about a patient who said beer made him feel relaxed, so the complementary therapy team created a personalised aromatherapy oil using his favourite beer.

The wellbeing team supported patients, carers and staff, with emotional support and practical advice and provided signposting to further support services, such as counselling.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

There was psychological support available to staff. Which aimed to support their emotional wellbeing and help them to manage the impact of working in end-of-life care, and also to support staff to be able to meet the emotional needs of patients and their family or supporters.

Staff surveys were conducted yearly. We reviewed the hospice’s latest staff survey in 2025. The completion rate was 53% which was below the Sue Ryder average of 63%.

Staff told us about a staff celebration day where pizza was provided, we also heard about weekly shout outs and complementary therapy days for staff.

We were told how staff were encouraged to do training/courses, such as a staff member having low self-confidence was completing a coaching course, and another staff member attended a tai chi course. However, some staff told us that whilst support was given from the local team and managers to further training applications, these were often declined by the national team and so some staff were put off from applying.