Dorothy House Hospice Care

We had some special guests visit our Day Patients last week! Kris brought his Tropical Discovery Workshop to the Hospice and introduced us to a whole host of animals including Taco the tortoise, Spyro the bearded dragon, India the tarantula and Aurelia the snake! Spyro and Aurelia also paid a visit to the lovely Julia who’s currently staying on our Inpatient Unit, where they were greeted with a big smile and lots of love! Thank you so much to Kris for bringing these incredible animals to visit us and for brightening our day! #HospiceLife #AnimalLovers #GoingTheExtraMile

Back in January, in the face of a critical financial shortfall, we launched our Together in Adversity campaign to protect the specialist end of life care we currently provide to our patients and their families across our 800 square mile patch. Rising costs, National Insurance and minimum wage hikes, alongside stagnant government funding at 20% of total costs has all had a major impact on the financial sustainability of the Hospice. Over the past three years, the cost of running the Hospice has risen from £46,000 a day to £52,000 a day (based on 2022 to 2024 figures), and the number of people needing specialist end of life care predicted to rise by 25% by 2048. We have longer-term plans to campaign for change to ensure hospices are able to secure fair, long-term funding solutions. However, at the beginning of 2025, we were facing an immediate critical fundraising shortfall which the recent government announcement of a one-off cash injection did not completely address. Resolute in our approach, Dorothy House continues to support more and more patients like Emma through our core services, on the specialist Inpatient Unit in Winsley and through our Community Palliative Care Teams, visiting people in their homes. Since the beginning of 2025, the Together in Adversity campaign has helped to raise £1 million, a true testament to our incredible community's generosity and compassion for hospice care. From all of us at Dorothy House, we want to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported the campaign 💕 #TogetherInAdversity #HospiceCare #HospiceFunding #EndOfLifeCare

Such a fantastic night Bath Life Awards, delighted to have been able to collect the Dorothy House Hospice Care Charity Award with my fabulous colleagues, but on behalf of our entire organisation whose vision is of a society where death is Part of Life 🍂 The judges recognised the power of opening up our Hospice grounds to enable important conversations about death and provide solace and reflection in grief. #hospicecare #deathhappens #destigmatisingdeath

What a night! We're honoured to have won in the Charity category at last night's Bath Life Awards, an award jointly shared with the amazing Bath Rugby Foundation! With rising costs, a National Insurance increase costing the Hospice an additional £422,000 per year, and only 20% of our end of life care being funded by the government, Dorothy House has been facing growing financial pressure, so we are incredibly grateful for the support of our community and recognition from the Bath Life Awards for our efforts to continue to excel, develop and improve in the face of extraordinary challenges. A huge congratulations to all of our fellow winners! 💕 #HospiceCharity #BathEvents #BathLifeAwards

We need to act now to protect the future of hospice care. With your support, we can protect our vital core services now and into the future, so that we can provide care to the people in our community who need us. Stand with Dorothy House together in the face of adversity today. Learn more: https://loom.ly/EWKySZI #SaveOurHospices #UKHealthPolicy #PalliativeCareMatters

How do you talk about death in a more open, human way? How do you talk about legacy and wills without sounding crass? Our answer – keep it real life and don't be scared of a little wit. This was one of the toughest briefs we've ever worked on. But also one of the most rewarding. Case study now live on our website. https://lnkd.in/ea_ws_Tp Who? For over 50 years, Dorothy House has provided exceptional palliative care across the South West. As part of their mission to normalise conversations around death, they tasked us with creating a campaign to encourage people to think ahead and share their end-of-life wishes. What? We created an emotive, thought-provoking campaign that invites people to imagine how they’d live out their last days to the full. We used simple illustrations and handwritten copy to humanise the messaging and ensure the campaign is relatable, regardless of age or background. Big thanks to James Byron for trusting us to do something a little different in the market. And to Brian Mansfield for the recommendation. Copy support by Jim K Davies and an almost endless suite of illustrations by the brilliant Róisín Henman-Kyle

It’s back for 2025! The much-loved Frome Running Festival takes place on Sunday 17 August, and we’d love for you to join us and run for Team Dorothy House! With the option to choose from a 5K, 10K or half marathon distance, this event is perfect for all running abilities, so why not get a team together with your colleagues? Head to our events calendar now to secure your place! #RunningCommunity #FromeEvents #ChallengeYourself

The Midnight Walk returns on Saturday 5 July and we’re bringing the ultimate pyjama party to Bath! Expect all the usual fun that comes with this much-loved fundraising event, including live (and lively!) warm-up entertainment, a face painting bar and photo booth, a DJ to bring the party vibes, and a free glass of fizz on arrival. Whether you sign up with friends, family or colleagues, we’d love for you to join us and help to raise vital funds to support patients and families in our community. Sign up via our website before 2 April and you can also take advantage of the special Early Bird rate of £17.50! #DHMidnightWalk #BathEvents #HospiceCare #WalkForCharity #TogetherInAdversity

Initially embedded within Dorothy House Hospice Care for clinical purposes, Radar Healthcare now supports information governance, data breach management, and much more. The transport team is making the most of the incident reporting system, and the retail outlets are benefiting from the audit module. “Overall, the system has greatly enhanced our operational efficiency across various departments, underscoring its value beyond clinical settings. This comprehensive use of technology exemplifies our commitment to maintaining high standards of care and service in all aspects of our work.” Melanie Barber, Digital Systems Transformation Partner. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eTfqs-EY #RHPartnerships #RHProud #Hospice #Retail

The #BereavementHelpPoint is an open-access community group aimed at anyone who has been bereaved. We offer groups at several locations across our patch, including our newest addition in Peasedown St John. These sessions provide a chance to meet and chat to other people who may be experiencing similar thoughts and feelings, in an informal and supportive setting. All sessions are free to attend and there’s no need to pre-book. #BereavementSupport #SupportGroups #GriefAndLoss #CommunitySupport