Helen and Douglas House

Updated 7 May 2026

Helen and Douglas House is a hospice located in central Oxford, providing supportive stays, symptom management, end-of-life care and counselling and bereavement services to children, young people and their families.

The service originally opened as Helen House in the 1980's, and was the world’s first children’s hospice. In 2004, it was extended to include Douglas House which enabled provision of care to children and young people from birth until their 19th birthday. Douglas House closed in 2018 and now accommodates back-of-house services. All direct care is currently delivered from the Helen House building and within the community.

The service had recently appointed a new CEO as well as several new senior managers. These organisational changes to governance processes prompted the assessment.

In the 12 months prior to assessment, the service supported a caseload of 217 children. Of those, 159 had been cared for at Helen House and 168 were cared for in the community. The service was also providing practical and emotional support to 198 parents and 69 siblings.

At our previous assessment, we rated the service as outstanding using a different methodology. In this assessment, we found that the service remains outstanding, with the number of domains achieving an outstanding rating increasing from two to four.

We found a service that delivered outstanding care and treatment to children and families across Oxfordshire and the surrounding areas. Children were at the heart of the service. Staff consistently went above and beyond to ensure care was personalised, meaningful and tailored to each child’s individual needs and wishes.

We were provided with numerous examples of staff supporting children to fulfil final wishes and create lasting memories for their families. The service actively fostered opportunities for children and families to build supportive relationships with one another and ensured they could access support flexibly at the point when they needed it.

Care extended beyond the death of a child, with comprehensive bereavement and family support embedded into the service model. Leaders had intentionally evolved the provision to move beyond a solely end-of-life focus, developing pathways that supported children and families throughout their journey.

Staff spoke passionately about their roles and demonstrated a strong commitment to service development. This passion translated into the creation of pathways and frameworks that contributed to the development of national guidance.

There was a supportive and engaged leadership team, who ensured the service maintained safe processes and clear accountability structures.

Updated 7 May 2026

Parents told us the service was invaluable. They described how it enabled them to feel like themselves again, rather than being defined solely as the parent of a child with a life-limiting condition.

Parents whose children had died shared deeply moving accounts of the support they received. They told us the service helped them to honour and never forget their child, while also finding a way to move forward with their lives, something they had previously felt would not be possible.

Children and young people told us they were empowered to shape decisions about their care at every opportunity.

Leaders were highly visible and consistently approachable. Parents told us they always knew who to speak to if they had questions, and leaders took the time to engage with them personally. Parents described how both leaders and staff made a genuine effort to get to know their child, which gave them confidence that the service was well organised and focused on what mattered most. Staff consistently provided clear, accurate and timely information about care and treatment. This was shared in a way that was accessible and easy to understand.