Grantham and District Hospital

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

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has improved to outstanding. This meant people always felt exceptionally well-supported, cared for and treated with the utmost dignity and respect.

People received care and support that was exceptionally compassionate and kind.

Staff cared for individuals and each other in a way that exceeded expectations and fully respected their privacy and dignity.

Staff demonstrated genuine empathy for the people they cared for.

We saw during our inspection and without exception, staff treated patients with kindness, empathy and compassion.

We observed that patient’s privacy, and dignity was respected.

Staff worked in a highly personalised and holistic way to deliver outstanding care to people. Staff had developed very positive caring and compassionate relationships with people. People were treated with sensitivity, dignity and respect. People said the staff were exceptionally compassionate, meeting their physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

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

Throughout our inspection, on the hospice unit, Harrowby ward and the chemotherapy suite we observed that patients 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 and 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 them, 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 hospice and observed their care and treatment. There was a strong, patient-centred culture from all staff.

Patients and their loved ones were without exception very 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.

One of the patients told us on the chemotherapy suite “The staff are magic. All of them. They bring you drinks all day and snacks and lunch. You are offered everything you need. I cannot fault them. The staff are so bright and cheerful”

“Another patient on Harrowby ward told us. “The staff are always busy….but they are amazing…I simply cannot fault them”. A third patient told us who was an in-patient at the hospice unit. “ I was very ill when I was admitted in the evening and needed the nurses almost every hour during the night. They were simply second to none, they always had a smile on their face. I felt so bad, I kept apologising, but they would not hear of it. There are not staff and patients here…only family”

Both leaders and staff understood equity, equality human rights, diversity and inclusion. This was made clear throughout their work within end of life care.

Staff were discreet and responsive when caring for patients. Staff took time to interact with patients and those close to them in a respectful and considerate way. Patients said staff treated them well and with kindness.

Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families, loved ones and care givers.

Staff ensured that patients and those close to them were partners in decisions about their care and treatment. Patients’ individual needs and preferences were central to the delivery of the tailored services.

The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback.

Patients and their relatives told us staff were alert to their needs. One person told us, “The staff treat me as if I was somebody very special, they always remember my name and say hello when they come on a shift with a smile on their face and ask how I am”. Another patient in that hospice told us told us “When I go for hospital appointments, I am just a number, but here, they always treat me as an individual….nothing is too much trouble".

During our inspection we observed the ward manager on Harrowby ward say hello to one of the patients in their native language, as English was not their first language.

One relative told us staff responded quickly and with kindness if their family member needed support and were always very helpful.

The hospice had a dedicated well-being team which provided spiritual care and counselling support for patients and families which extended after death.

Managers described how the service promoted inclusion and worked with staff who had protected characteristics and were able to give examples of how they did this.

People and their relatives we spoke with as part of our inspection, told us about how well staff treated them and respected their individuality. How they were always informed and given choices about the care that was provided and how they were encouraged to be as independent as possible.

One patient we spoke with described the staff as “ Excellent…end of”. All the patients we spoke with told us that the staff could not do enough to help them, their families and care givers. They all felt that their individual opinions were valued and heard, and their wishes respected. All the people we spoke with told us that the staff went above and beyond, and patients felt safe and secure and at home in the hospice.

Patient wishes for their final days were heard, respected and acted on by staff who went above and beyond to enable dying patients’ involvement at chosen celebrations and momentous occasions in their final days of life and no ask was too big. For example, one staff member told us of how one patient’s last wish was to have their dog with them. This was facilitated by the staff, and the patient had their dog with them on the bed in a side room during their last few days and when they died.

Data for The Friends and Family Test (FFT) results for both Harrowby ward and the chemotherapy suite showed 100% positive feedback. At the time of our inspection, the hospice unit did not take part in the FFT.

There was ‘open visiting’ for families and loved ones. This meant they could visit patients whenever they wished and were encouraged to do so by the staff and made to always feel welcome.

Car parking for relatives for end of life care patients was free, which removed worries about the cost of visiting loved ones.

People were supported by staff that were committed to providing high quality care and treatment. Staff had an excellent understanding of people's needs. They had a holistic approach, providing emotional, spiritual and psychological support for people using the service and those close to them.

The ReSPECT care plan provided health and care professionals reacting to an urgent situation with a synopsis of proposals to help them to make immediate choices about that person’s care and treatment. If a patient had a do not resuscitate decision, (DNACPR) this was also included as part of the ReSPECT paperwork.

Staff told us they had access to interpreters for people whose first language was not English and a range of tools to improve communication with people who required alternative methods of communication due to disability.

Staff had taken action to support patients with specific vulnerabilities such as those living with dementia. For example, the service provided lifelike cat replicas for people living with dementia to put on their lap and take care of.

We found staff to be open and friendly at Grantham and District Hospital.

The culture within end of life care was fully focussed on the needs of patients, their care givers, families and loved ones. This shared vision was demonstrated in the caring and compassionate way that care was delivered.

Individual staff reported they were respected and valued and there were no negative comments about their experiences working for the service on Harrowby ward.

Staff at all levels received regular appraisals, which provided them with development, career opportunities, their own wellbeing and their safety being supported.

Staff told us they had been encouraged to develop and acquire new skills. For example, 1 staff member told us how they had been encouraged to become a SWAN ambassador.

The 2025 staff survey had a 38% response rate. Results showed mixed feedback. Staff rated morale at 5.7 out of 10. A higher score of 7.0 was given for feeling the organisation is inclusive and compassionate. However, the score for being a learning organisation was lower at 5.4, indicating there is room for improvement in supporting staff learning and development.

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. One staff member on the hospice told us, “It is a privilege to work here”. One staff member in the hospice told us, “We are a nursing team….a family and the patients are part of that family”.

There was an SPCT huddle each morning on every site where which each team join to discuss operational issues, receive updates, obtain have peer and senior support and discuss any complex patients with other members of the team.