Answering your questions about Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice

We understand that hearing a hospice has been rated as ‘Inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) can be concerning, especially when you or a loved one is considering or already receiving our care.

We want to reassure you that the safety, dignity, and comfort of our patients remain our highest priorities, and hope by sharing responses to some of the questions you might have this reassures you further.

If you have other questions, please email wheatfields@sueryder.org or call 0113 278 7249 so we can support you.

The inspection recognised several improvements and developments since the previous inspection in March, and the published report includes many positive findings which reflect the quality of care we strive to deliver. This includes: 

• Patients and families spoke highly of the care and treatment they received, describing staff as kind, compassionate, and respectful. 
• People said they received individualised care and were kept well informed about their treatment. 
• The Medicines Management quality statement was rated Good, with the CQC recognising that we ensure treatments are safe and responsive to people’s needs. 
• The Kindness, Compassion and Dignity quality statement was also rated Good, with inspectors observing how staff went above and beyond to support patients and families. 

The July inspection was what is called a focused inspection, not a full inspection. This means it looked at two of five total areas called ‘domains’ which the CQC measures as part of their inspection process. 

During their July visit, the CQC investigated two domains ‘Caring and ‘Safe’.  

You can visit the CQC’s website to find out more about their inspection process. 

Although our overall rating remains unchanged, this new report recognises several positive developments since the CQC’s previous inspection in March.  

It also highlights examples of excellent, compassionate care delivered by our dedicated hospice teams, with patients describing our staff as kind, respectful, and committed to maintaining comfort and dignity 

While the CQC’s report from their July inspection of Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice recognises positive progress has been made, we know there are a number of areas for further improvement around staffing levels, wellbeing support for our teams, and leadership processes.  

We are driving sustained improvements in these, with strong progress already underway, and we look forward to sharing this with the CQC when they next visit.

The ‘Inadequate’ rating reflects areas identified by the CQC during their inspection that did not meet the required standards at that specific point in time. These areas may relate to record-keeping, management, staffing, safety, or how we respond to patients’ needs.

A CQC inspection provides a snapshot of services at a particular moment, and the CQC visited Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice in March and again in May 2025.

Prior to the CQC’s inspection, Sue Ryder had completed a comprehensive internal review of the service in the summer of 2024 and put a very detailed action plan in place.

Sue Ryder teams are committed to always improving and are working positively on delivering the quality improvement programme, reviewing progress and making further enhancements as part of the hospice’s ongoing commitment to high-quality care

In more detail, the action plan uses external standards from the CQC and National Institute for Healthcare Excellence (NICE) to guide improvement, and has already seen us:

• Improve how patients and families share feedback about their experience of our care, catering, the hospice and anything else they would like to share with us, anonymously and in real time
• Make changes so there are more staff on the inpatient unit, with daily safety meetings, team reflection sessions and weekly checks in place, with nursing staff receiving more one to one support and development opportunities
• Improve how referrals and admissions are managed.
• Hold refresher and higher-level training sessions on medicines, safeguarding, and incident reporting.
• Increase the number of audits we do to test the quality of our care, and help us maintain high standards.

Sue Ryder is committed to always improving, so we will also be:

• Recruiting more staff.
• Providing leadership training.
• Improving our training further, including access to specialist training.
• Making patient information more accessible.

All of the action our teams are taking addresses concerns raised by the CQC.

Yes. We all remain fully committed to delivering safe, compassionate, and high-quality care and our teams continue to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback from people we care for.

We are working closely with the NHS and other local healthcare partners to make sure people in Leeds continue to receive the expert and compassionate care they need.

The CQC and NHS West Yorkshire ICB who commission us to provide care in Leeds also continue to monitor the progress we are making.

Your care will not be negatively impacted by any of these changes. In fact, it is likely to further improve. The measures being introduced and strengthened are designed to ensure all patients receive the very best care.

If you do receive care from us, your feedback and your thoughts on how we can further improve our care is warmly welcome. You can do this in person, by email or letter.

Our hospice continues to be a place of comfort, safety and support.

Our care teams, nurses, doctors and support teams are all deeply dedicated healthcare professionals committed to giving high quality care and they look forward to supporting you.

At Sue Ryder we put our patients and service users at the heart of everything we do and you can find more about our approach to quality.

This page also tells you what to do if you have any concerns about your care at any time, which are:

• Speak to a nurse or member of staff directly who will resolve any concerns you have quickly. We will check back with you to make sure you’re happy with the progress we have made to support you too.
• Email or write to us.

If you feel your concerns are not dealt with quickly, or you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the CQC directly to raise concerns externally too.

If you have any further questions, please speak with the healthcare professional currently providing your care for any care-related questions.

If you have further questions about the care provided by Sue Ryder Wheatfield Hospice, please email wheatfields@sueryder.org or call 0113 278 7249 so a member of our team can support you.

You can read Sue Ryder’s official statement in response to the CQC’s rating and report in our blog post.

The priority of everyone at Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice’ remains to be the care and comfort of all our patients. It is a privilege for us to be here for you or your loved one.

Our dedicated teams continue to work hard to provide their compassionate and expert care, and continue to receive hugely positive feedback from patients and their families.

I hope by answering some of the questions you might have, you feel reassured about what you can expect from us.