Coventry Myton 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

We reviewed 5 quality statements for caring, kindness, compassion and dignity, treating people as individuals, independence, choice and control, responding to people's immediate needs, and workforce well-being and enablement.

Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness and respected their privacy and dignity.

Staff understood and respected the individual needs of each patient and showed understanding and a non-judgmental attitude when discussing patients care needs.

Staff promote patient’s choices and gave them control over what their care should look like.

Staff took time to listen to patients and find out what was important to them. Staff worked to meet people’s individual needs and wishes.

There were processes to ensure that staff were supported with their wellbeing which enabled them to continue in their roles of providing care and treatment to patients.

This service scored 90 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People were extremely positive about the care and compassion they received from staff. They described how the supportive and empathetic approach by staff had a positive impact on their emotional wellbeing. They said the standards of care was “excellent” and “nothing is too much trouble for anyone.”

People told us staff gave their loved one’s emotional support and advice when they needed it.

The providers website contained videos made with previous patients explaining their fears about going in the inpatient unit and how they felt once they were there and had started to receive treatment there. The videos were designed to show it was normal to feel scared and anxious about going into a hospice, and much people’s perspective could change once they were there.

Feedback from people collected by the provider included, “as well as caring for nan, I cannot express how grateful I am to all of you for supporting my family, particularly mum, throughout…No amount of words will be able to convey the depth of gratitude that I, my family, and I'm sure the families of many others feel to the whole team.” Other feedback included the following comments, “I will never be able to say thank you enough to you all for taking such excellent care of [name]. Thank you for your dedication to keeping him comfortable and for making a very difficult situation as easy for both of us as possible. Your passion for your patients is appreciated every day. Thank you for all you do.”

During our conversations staff consistently demonstrated an understanding of the physical and emotional impact of living with a life limiting condition on patients, and on their family and friends. Staff spoke of the importance of listening to people and giving them time to talk. Staff told us they felt “privileged” to work with patients, to spend time getting to know them, and to help ease their pain and discomfort.

Staff were very welcoming and supported our visit throughout. People and their relatives appeared very comfortable with staff, and we observed some relaxed, friendly, and unhurried exchanges.

People and their relatives did not raise any concerns about how staff treated them and told us staff respected their individuality. One patient said, “the care is tailored to my needs.”

Each patient had a board in their room entitled ‘what's important to me’ which contained information about the patient for example, their preferred name, and details about what patients valued most.

Staff understood and respected the individual needs of each patient and showed understanding and a non-judgmental attitude when discussing their care with them or other healthcare professionals.

Staff told us they had time to spend with patients, to listen and hear what they valued and what they wanted their treatment to look like. They spoke of the importance of understanding people’s individual preferences and needs, and of not treating everyone the same.

Staff told us they always asked patients for the preferred name and used this and made sure other staff knew and used their preferred name.

Staff understood that people may have activities they wanted to participate in before their death and they worked hard to help patients achieve this. For example, they helped arrange marriages and birthday parties. They brought Christmas forward for patients who wanted to spend one last Christmas with their relatives, and organised day trips to the seaside for people who wanted one last visit to the sea.

The provider had a spiritual lead onsite 3 days a week to provide spiritual and bereavement care and support. A spiritual lead provides spiritual care to people of all faiths. Staff also had access to representatives of multiple faiths from the local community to meet the needs of individual patients. There was a sanctuary room for people to use for reflection and as a space to meet their cultural and spiritual needs.

Peoples’ individual lifestyle choices were supported so people were not discriminated against. For example, there was a dedicated room that patients could smoke in. The door was kept closed and this room was away from other rooms to reduce risks for other people.

Inpatients were able to have visits from their pets.

Patients and their relatives felt information was given to them to enable them to make choices and retain some control of their lives.

Patients had access to complementary therapies, for example aromatherapy and massage to help them manage their psychological health. They also had access to therapeutic therapies such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy to help maximise their functional abilities and improve their independence.

Relatives told us they could visit when they wanted to and stay as long as they wished to. They also told us they could stay overnight in their relative’s room or in the free guest accommodation.

Staff understood the importance of people retaining as much independence and control in their lives as possible and this was reflected in patient’s care plans. Staff were clear that people’s preferences and values and how they experienced their illness and treatment differed from person to person. They told us this meant each patient’s care was tailored to them.

Staff said they used communication aids to help people communicate to ensure people remained a partner in their care. For example, they used voice amplifiers and white boards so patients could communicate their wishes.

Therapy staff told us they used specialist equipment to help patients remain independent for as long as possible, for example, to remain mobile and/or meet their own personal care needs.

Staff received training in equality and diversity, so they understood, valued, and celebrated difference. They also received training on the ethos of the service so they were clear the focus of the service was on enhancing the lives of people with a terminal illness to provide them with more quality time with their loved ones, and this meant finding out what mattered to them to promote their choices and give them control over what their care should look like.

People and their relatives told us staff were alert to their needs, because they took time to listen and respond to their needs. One patient said, “doctors are kind, they take their time explaining things and my symptoms are always sorted over time”.

Staff frequently talked about the importance of patients being able to take part in activities that were meaningful for them for as long as possible because the final part of someone's life was as important as their beginning. Staff spent time talking to patients to understand what was important to them and how they could support them to take part and meaningful activities.

Staff had received training on supporting people with learning disabilities and autism.

Staff told us they had access to interpreters and a range of tools to improve communication with people whose first language was not English.

All patients had their own rooms although there were single and double rooms. Single rooms had en suite bathrooms. Shared rooms had a bathroom immediately outside of the room. Double rooms had two beds and patients were permitted to have a relative, friend, or carer, sleep in their room. If a patient had multiple relatives that wanted to stay to make visiting easier there were two self-contained double guest rooms that could be used for this purpose.

Staff described a fulfilling but challenging role. They told us the support they received from their managers and colleagues enabled them to perform that role well. This included regular supervision and ad hoc supervision as well as learning de-brief meetings if something had not gone as planned.

Staff told us the provider promoted positive physical, mental and financial health with access to support networks and a range of benefits, including access to a counselling service.

Staff received formal clinical supervision monthly and could choose to have either individual or group supervision sessions. Staff told us they had regular ad-hoc supervision when they felt they needed it. Staff could request a reflective practice session which could be facilitated within 48 hours of it being requested to help manage a clinical incident or complex case. They also received a wellbeing check-in with their manager every three months. This check-in included an assessment of their work life balance and financial wellbeing.

The provider had an employee and volunteer wellbeing strategy that could be easily accessed by staff and volunteers. The strategy set out the wellbeing vision and their wellbeing promise to staff and volunteers.

There was a wellbeing co-ordinator who had a rolling case load of employees who they provided individual wellbeing support for.

Staff had access to inhouse wellbeing sessions and days. These included talks on the menopause, stress, and fitness. Staff were also able to access wellbeing sessions facilitated by external providers free of charge, including mindfulness, Pilates, yoga, Indian head massages, sound therapy, and a money and pension service drop in.

Staff had access to an external virtual GP service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They also had access to a counselling service that offered virtual or face to face counselling sessions.