St Luke's Hospice -Turnchapel

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 the ‘kindness, compassion and dignity’ evidence category and rated this as outstanding. We saw people received a high standard of care, delivered by a team of staff who were compassionate and respected people’s dignity. We also rated ‘workforce wellbeing and enablement’ quality statement as good. Staff we spoke with said their work loads were manageable and they worked as a team to ensure people received the best possible care. Overall, the service remained outstanding for the caring key question based on scores from the previous inspection in 2016.

This service scored 95 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Patients experienced a high standard of care, delivered by a team of staff who were kind compassionate and upheld their dignity. Examples of feedback received for the St Luke’s Urgent Care service stated staff were, “present and made him so comfortable, providing him with a wash, mouthcare and shave and identified that his breathing had changed and alerted the family to sit with him as he took his last breath. I was blown away with their professionalism and compassion”. Another example was, “the urgent care and community team were an incredible group of people, making the end of my Dad’s life a little bit easier. The support was brilliant – the hugs we’d get when they walked through the door, the honesty, the smiles they put on our face. Two of the team sat with us for hours after their shift when he passed away to make sure we were okay – they go above and beyond and we will be eternally grateful for you all.” The service was able to provide options for relatives who wanted to stay with their loved one in their final days. and there was an overwhelming view from families that they were cared for by the hospice staff, as well as their loved ones.

Staff and leaders were committed to ensuring patients were given the best possible care when approaching the end of life. Staff told us they provided people with emotional support as well as clinical support. The service offered a range of holistic services like massage and reflexology to assist with symptom control and relaxation. Staff we spoke with said the best thing about their job was caring for people at this most vulnerable time and being able to make a difference. Staff said people were able to access spiritual advice. Nurses were able to provide information for families to contact different faith leaders dependant on the person’s religion. Families the hospice supported were offered bereavement support.

Feedback from partner organisations was consistently positive. We saw feedback from various professional colleagues such as a Community Nurse’s and Paramedics. One report stated “two staff members gave impeccable care and they had been amazing. If the patient had been her own Nan, she would have been really pleased with the care witnessed.”

Staff were compassionate and kind. We observed staff being compassionate, kind and professional to patients on the in-patient unit and when in people’s own homes. We observed staff manage difficult situations with patience, kindness and respect.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Independence, choice and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Responding to people’s immediate needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

The service had a wellbeing strategy which was supported by wellbeing champions and mental health first aiders throughout the organisation. There was also a dedicated wellbeing intranet page which explained the support that was available to staff. The service offered complimentary therapies for both staff and patients. There was a virtual counselling service available to staff. The service had a ‘wellbeing week’ which took place in June 2024 where there was the opportunity for staff to have health checks, liver scans and advice on stress busting. Staff we spoke with said they felt able to access the services that were provided for staff well being. Staff we spoke with said that their caseloads were manageable and staff members supported each other to ensure patients received the best possible care.

The service had policies and procedures that supported the well being of its workforce. This included lone working policies and tools which helped to assess staff workloads. Clinical staff turnover as of August 2024 was 7.93% which was comparable with other local hospices. As well as internal supervision, staff could also access external supervision with two local providers based in Plymouth and Ivybridge.