- Hospice service
Dorothy House Hospice Care
Assessment report published 22 June 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Dorothy House provides palliative and end of life care services to adults (18+) with a progressive, treatable but not curable life-limiting illness or with severe frailty. Services were extended to families (including children) and carers. The hospice cared for people across an approximate 800 square mile catchment area which covered Bath Northeast Somerset, parts of Wiltshire and Somerset. Uniquely, the hospice provides services across the 'last 1000 days' allowing them to support patients much earlier in their illness, aiming to add 'life to days' rather than just days to life, and supports over 4200 patients and families yearly.
Services at the hospice were delivered by both specialist staff and volunteers through:
- Ten-bedded in patient unit
- Day patient services providing a range of wellbeing options to support living well
- Community specialist palliative care teams providing symptom control and support to patients in their own homes across an 800 square mile footprint
- Family support team providing psychological support, social work support, bereavement support, spiritual support, children, young people support, and creative arts.
- Hospice at home providing specialist domiciliary care service for people at the end of life.
- Therapies providing occupational and physiotherapy services
- Medical consultants providing clinical care in the hospice, community and local acute hospital.
- Allied Health Professionals - specialist physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitian and speech language therapist.
- Specialist services including dementia specialist support, motor neurone disease , homeless link worker and frailty specialist support.
- Volunteer 'Compassionate Companions' supporting people in the community and local hospital
- 24-hour specialist advice line service
We carried out an inspection of the hospice on the 13th of January 2026. We inspected all quality statements across safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. We have combined the scores for these areas with scores from the last inspection to give the overall rating.
As of April 2025 the hospice had been subcontracted to be the lead provider of adult palliative and end of life care. Following this, the hospice had subcontracted another hospice to deliver services across the Swindon and northeast Wiltshire communities.
We rated this service as outstanding. People were safe and protected from avoidable harm. Outcomes were consistently good and people’s feedback confirmed this. People were truly respected and valued as individuals; and empowered as partners in their care in an exceptional service. Services were tailored to meet the needs of individuals and delivered to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. Leadership was exceptional and distinctive. Leaders and the service culture they created drove and improved high-quality, person-centred care.
People's experience of this service
Feedback from patients and any family or carers was overwhelmingly positive. Patients commented about the staff treating them with kindness and dignity and providing effective care and treatment. Patients and family or carers said that communication with the hospice was “very good”. People did not experience discrimination or inequality. The service made reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities and communication difficulties.