Dorothy House Hospice Care retains ‘Outstanding’ rating from Care Quality Commission

Following a regulatory inspection in June, Dorothy House Hospice Care is delighted to announce that it has again been awarded an “Outstanding” rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The unannounced visit from the CQC took place on 9 June 2022 and the CQC’s report and rating describes its judgement of the quality of care provided by Dorothy House. The report is based on a combination of what CQC found when they inspected, information from their ongoing monitoring of Dorothy House services and information provided by the Hospice, patients, the public and other organisations.

As with all inspections, CQC assessed the Hospice on whether its services were safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. Dorothy House was rated outstanding in 3 of these areas and good in the other two with outstanding overall.  The CQC report noted the following:

 “People received outstanding care from highly motivated staff who developed exceptionally positive, caring and compassionate relationships with them.”

“The services had an open and positive culture that placed people at the heart of everything they did. Staff treated people with sensitivity, dignity and respect.”

“Services were planned and tailored to meet the complex needs of individual people, and the local population, in partnership with the wider health economy. The Hospices’ services were delivered flexibly, by a responsive and passionate multidisciplinary team, providing choice and continuity of care for patients, their families and carers.”

In response to CQC’s report, Dorothy House Chair of Trustees, Stephen Taylor said:

“I am delighted to learn that Dorothy House has retained its ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission. To be placed in the top 3% of healthcare providers, particularly after more than two years of a pandemic, is a remarkable achievement. I am so pleased for the hard-working staff and volunteers at the Hospice.”

Chief Executive, Wayne de Leeuw said:

“Everyone at Dorothy House is thrilled about our continued ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission. Last year we cared for 10% more people than previous year and we are expanding our care following a services review in 2020. It’s an exciting time for the organisation as we continue to explore new ways of providing care with and in our community.” 

You can listen to Wayne speaking about our CQC rating here.

The CQC report did highlight that improvements could be made in some areas of our work and we will rapidly address these issues. We welcome feedback and are always looking for opportunities to improve our care.