Zoe's Place Baby Hospice

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

We looked for evidence that children and their families were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that people’s privacy and dignity was respected, that they understood that their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered.

Babies, children and their families were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. Their privacy and dignity was respected. Every effort was made to take their wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

At the last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant the care provided to people was consistently good.

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.

Parents told us the service enabled them and their families to have a real break from their caregiving duties because they were safe in the knowledge their child was being looked after in a place where they could, “implicitly trust the staff”, who they said, “were caring and compassionate”.

One parent told us, “I feel safe and happy to leave [name of child], it's like a home from home. I can really relax when he's there”. Another parent said, “The care is really good and tailored to the different needs of children. [child's name] used to like soft play and had lots of sensory needs, she has different needs now and the staff have adapted her care to that“.

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.

To show kindness and compassion to families at the end of their child’s life a star rather than using an ‘in use’ sign was hung on the door of the starlight suit to let people know the rooms were being used. The starlight suit was fully self-contained to provide families with dignity and respect during the end of life or after life care of their child. Staff used the star to symbolize love, care, and a sense of a sacred space.

Staff spoke to us about their working relations with external staff. They described respectful and considerate relationships where staff worked collaboratively to meet the needs of children and their families.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure children’s care, support and treatment met their needs, and the preferences of the parents and carers.

The hospice sometimes provided emergency care for children because of acute clinical changes in a child’s condition, or because of a sudden significant change in a family’s social situation.

Children were treated as individuals. Their individual needs and preferences were understood and reflected in their care and treatment. Each child had a care plan that outlined their day time and night time routine. For example, the routine of a preschool age child might include breakfast, play therapy, lunch, sensory activities, evening meal, bath, and bedtime. Each element of the routine was specific to the child and would mimic the routine provided by parents and carers at home.

To ensure children had all the equipment and other belongings they needed during their stay staff requested parents brought in everything their child needed as if they were going on holiday. This included clothes, toiletries, nappies, wipes, special toys and comforters. It also included food, medicines, medical equipment and consumables for example, syringes, feeding sets, suction equipment, and chargers.

To help sooth a child, whose first language was not English, at bedtime, staff made a recording in the language most commonly spoken in their home which said ‘it’s time to get ready for bed’, ‘goodnight’, and ‘mummy and daddy love you and they will see you soon’. Staff told us they asked parents and carers about particular songs or stories their children enjoyed so these could be incorporated into children’s care while they were at the hospice.

The service promoted people’s independence and wellbeing.

Parents and carers told us they thought the hospice promoted their child’s independence. For example, one parent said, “The staff have a great understanding of [child’s name], medically and as a person. They are great at seeing what he can do and not just what he can't”.

Respite care was planned by senior staff to ensure the correct skill mix of staff was rostered to meet the needs of children. Parents were sent a letter each month with the dates their children could be provided with day and overnight respite care. Parents had some control over when their child received respite care. If they had an event coming up they could request dates for respite care. However, they could not regularly make requests for specific dates and times.

Families could involve their chosen faith leaders to visit them in the hospice or staff could work alongside parents to arrange for local faith leaders to support the family. The hospice had a service level agreement with a funeral director to accommodate families wishes.

There was a small selection of religious and spiritual items in a room that could be used for prayer and reflection. There was a stand with leaflets that gave information about other charities and services that could support children and their families and carers.

The service was exceptional in how they 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.

The hospice had been designed to meet the play and developmental needs of children. This included indoor and outdoor resources to help children develop their motor skills, cognition, and social skills.

There was a soft play room that had a ball pit and large cushioned shapes to help to help children build muscle strength, balance, and coordination through climbing, crawling, jumping, and interacting with soft obstacles. There was a light sensory room that had been specially designed to utilise a variety of lighting effects and visual elements to create a calming or stimulating experience for children, especially those with autism or sensory processing disorders. Gentle sensory lighting helped to calm and regulate behaviour by reducing stress and anxiety in children who were easily overwhelmed. By exposing children to a range of visual stimuli the sensory light room could help them better understand and respond to sensory information.

There was a sensory trolley that contained multiple pieces of portable sensory equipment, including light sensory items, that could be used at bedtime or by children that were unable to access the light sensory room due to mobility problems.

There were interactive toys attached to the walls of the corridor that separated the main hospice area from the soft play and sensory rooms. These activity stations were at child height and were made from brightly coloured materials. They had moving parts and could make sounds.

There was a room called “the round room” that was also a sensory area located off the atrium designed to create a calming and comfortable environment to aid relaxation and focused engagement. The round room had soft seats and mats, there was a soft fabric around the walls of the room that made the room feel like you were in a tent or a cocoon. Different images could be projected onto the fabric giving the illusion children were in a different place, for example, inside an igloo. The service had an interactive floor space. A machine projected images, for example a football pitch, onto the floor. A large image of a football could be kicked around the pitch to play a virtual game of football. The interactive element of the floor space promoted physical activity, encouraged social interaction, and aided the development of motor skills and coordination.

Outdoors there was a garden with a variety of toys including a trampoline. The trampoline could be used for rebound therapy as well as play. Rebound therapy is a therapeutic exercise using trampolines to provide movement and rehabilitation for individuals with a range of physical and learning difficulties. For example, a child who was unable to use the trampoline for play, received a therapeutic effect from being gently bounced while lying on the surface of the trampoline. Unable to clear her chest by coughing the rebound therapy encouraged natural movement of mucus making it easier to expel through natural breathing.

The service had a bus that was used to take children out into the community. Staff sometimes arranged day trips or visits to local parks.

The service provided alternative therapies for parents and carers. The therapies were available on a rota basis and included Reki and reflexology. Parents told us having this time to themselves was a “treat” that made them feel valued and helped reduce stress.

The service provided a counselling service for staff, parents and carers. The counselling service had been commissioned to provide support for people impacted by anticipatory grief and the stress created by long-term care giving.

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

Children received safe, effective and person-centred care as the provider recognised and met the wellbeing needs of staff. These included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Staff had a rest room where they stored their belongings and took breaks. The room had a wellbeing notice board with details of how to promote wellbeing and where to get support if required.There was a ‘going home checklist’ on the back of toilet doors to remind staff to look after themselves and their colleagues and to ask for help when they needed it.

Staff told us they worked in a supportive environment in which they “look after each other”.

There was a ‘nurses shout out’ board in the staff room that was used to celebrate the achievements of staff. To keep a record of when staff had gone over and above what was expected of them there was a ‘golden nuggets’ box. A description of the event was put in the box so staff could be reminded of, and praised about, times when they had gone over and above the job specification and rostered hours of work. For example, there was a golden nugget about staff staying behind after their shift had finished because of an emergency safeguarding issue that required staff to look after a child for several hours after the hospice closed.

Staff were given access to services designed to promote their health and wellbeing. These included access to a counselling service, access to discounted retail services, and discounted gym membership. They were also given access to a virtual GP service.