We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to pilot a new inspection process being introduced by CQC which looks at the overall quality of the service.

The inspection was unannounced.

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice provides palliative care services to children and young people from across Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield. The support can be provided at home via the hospice at home service or at the children’s hospice known as Russell House. Russell House is a purpose built hospice which opened in December 2012 with places for four children.

There were four children in Russell House on the day of the inspection. A registered manager was in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider.

Staff were highly dedicated and passionate about their roles in caring for children and they placed children at the very heart of their work. Staff focus was on enhancing the quality of life for children and their families and this was unanimously confirmed by families we spoke with.

Teamwork was highly evident throughout the service with all members of staff valued and respected in their roles.

Care was provided to an extremely high standard in a child-centred environment. Care and support was extended to children’s family members in a highly inclusive and holistic way.

Families highly commended the service and gave extensive praise for the staff and the management team. Families described the support they received as being like an extension of their own family and they valued the extended services, such as short breaks, bereavement support, siblings groups, play therapy, music therapy and counselling.

There was excellent leadership and management of the service which resulted in children’s care being outstanding. The chief executive demonstrated clear goals for the development of the service with emphasis on ensuring quality experiences for children and their families. The organisations values were known by staff and embedded in practice.

We spoke with two relatives of people who used this service and one person described the service as a 'god send'. Both relatives told us they would recommend the service. They told us the staff were very good and they trusted them. The staff we spoke with told us that they provided care for the same people which meant people receiving the service received consistent care.

We looked at two sets of care records and saw there were processes in place to identify people's needs. We saw care documentation was person centred and there was evidence of involvement. This ranged from how people liked to be positioned at night though to end of life care planning. We saw and heard how hospice staff liaised with other health and social care professionals, particularly when a person's needs had changed. We also saw from people's care records that staff attended mulit-agency meetings demonstrating co-operation with other providers of care.

We looked around Russell House which was a pleasant, clean and homely environment. We saw there were a variety of rooms available for people to their spend time. This included sensory rooms, music rooms, play rooms and and IT suite. We were told by the director of care that people using the service and their relatives had been involved in planning certain aspects of the building. We saw evidence of these consultation events and how their suggestions had been implemented.