Newark Hospital

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

The end of life care team worked with the local hospices and local commissioning groups to plan and deliver services to meet the needs of local people into the future. Patients benefitted from a multidisciplinary team.

Patients received person-centred care. Systems were in place to ensure that people's physical, social and psychological needs and wishes were comprehensibly assessed.

Detailed and current information about people's needs and wishes was available to staff to ensure people received the supported they required. The service ensured people experienced a comfortable, dignified and pain-free death, according to their wishes and preferences.

People knew how to raise a concern or complaint. Senior management were open and transparent with people when things went wrong. Complaints were investigated and analysed for trends and themes.

We have not awarded this service a score for Responsive.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Responsive.

Throughout our inspection we observed that patients, care givers, loved ones and families were at the heart of everything staff did. Staff responded compassionately when patients or their relatives and loved ones needed help. Support was always given by caring staff, to meet the needs of the patients and their families. Feedback from people who used the service was continually positive about the way staff treated them. Staff identified patients who needed extra support and discussed changes to patients’ care and treatment with patients, their families and their care givers.

The service provided support to families and care givers to maintain their own health and wellbeing. We spoke with patients and relatives in the hospital and observed their care and treatment. There was a strong, patient-centred culture from all staff. Staff were motivated and inspired to offer care for patients with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect through supportive relationships with patients and their families, care givers and loved ones. We observed all staff members speaking to patients and their relatives and care givers with compassion and we observed sensitivity being shown during those conversations.

There were a number of leaflets available, for example Macmillan cancer support, carers passport and managing breathlessness.

People described care that was responsive to their personal needs because staff had time to listen to them and understand their needs and preferences. One person said, “The staff always have time to talk to me, and they are all so kind, even though I know they are busy”

Patients and those close to them were partners in decisions about their care and treatment. Relatives unanimously spoke highly of the care their loved one had received and reported they had felt fully involved in all aspects of care and also had their opinions considered.

Patients and their families could give feedback on the service and their treatment, and staff supported them to do this. Staff told us the service monitored and evaluated feedback received through the ‘I want Great Care ‘questionnaires.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Translation services were available for people whose first language was not English. Staff knew how to access this service and told us the service could be accessed by phone.

There was an extensive number of information leaflets available for people to explain the different aspects of end of life care, the treatment available and any side effects.

Staff provided up to date information to people whilst delivering care.

Patients and loved ones were provided with appropriate, accurate and up to date information at all stages of their care and treatment.

We observed relevant information being shared between staff during a multidisciplinary meeting we attended.

Patient information, such as medical records, were stored in line with data protection and legislation requirements.

The service made it easy for people to share feedback or raise complaints about their care and treatment. Staff involved patients and their loved ones in decisions about their care and what the outcome could be.

Families and care givers we spoke to were aware of how to make a complaint and how to provide feedback. They told us they felt they could raise any concerns with staff and felt they would be listened to.

Staff told us they tried to deal with any concerns and issues immediately, however, if a complaint was made formally, it was appropriately investigated through the complaints process.

Staff involved patients and their loved ones in decisions around their care through all stages of the palliative and end of life care process.

Complaints were registered in line with the Trust’s complaint policy and reviewed by the leadership team. The service had received no complaints in the month prior to our inspection.

For the period January 2025 to September 2025 a total of 2 complaints were received for the service at Newark hospital.

The trust had their equality and diversity policy on their website, along with its values and the equality, inclusion and diversion strategy.

Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. The service promoted equality and diversity in daily work. The service had an open culture where patients, their families and staff could raise concerns without fear.

The service was inclusive and took account of patients’ individual needs and preferences and conversations with staff evidenced their understanding of person-centred care.

We observed positive interactions between all members of staff regardless of seniority. Staff said that the service had an open and welcoming culture, where they felt they could raise concerns with both their colleagues and leaders without fear.

We observed all patients had equal access to care. The trust considered patients’ individual needs, this included culture, age, disabilities and extra requirements, this enabled the service to put in any additional support required. For example, the family of end of life care patients could stay in the butterfly room for as long as they and the patient wanted them to.

Staff received training in equality, diversity and inclusion and service training records demonstrated all staff were up to date with this training.

Staff spoke openly with patients and their loved ones to try and plan the last days and hours of a person’s life met with their wishes.

There were suitable systems in place to ensure safe transfer and accessibility of patient records if a patient needed to be transferred to a hospice or home for their end of life care.

Relatives we spoke to, told us they had received information, both verbal and written, to enable them to make an informed decision about the care and treatment that had been provided and was planned for the future for their loved one.

Staff demonstrated a commitment to providing high standards of end of life care. One staff member told us, “Just being able to care for someone for that last day, last few hours, for me it is a privilege”.