Julia's House

Updated 16 February 2023

Julia’s House is operated by Julia’s House Limited. The charity provides care to children and young people with life-limiting or life-shortening conditions within the Dorset area.

Julia’s House provides care for children with life-limiting and life-shortening conditions, consisting of sessions at the hospice, in the child’s own home or out in the community. All care is provided free of charge. The family support service organises social activities that enable families to spend quality time together, this includes a dedicated sibling group.

For children at the end of their lives the service offers emergency respite and overnight care 24 hours a day from a multi-disciplinary team. The hospice had a bedroom suite to enable children and their families to be together at the end of a child’s life. The service provides bereavement support for up to five years following the death of a child. Care is provided based on Together For Short Lives guidance.

The organisation consisted of two hospices; the other hospice was based in Wiltshire. The two locations worked as one team and shared all administration records, policies and procedures. Staff worked closely with other healthcare professionals

At the time of the inspection the charity was supporting approximately 119 families. This included 25 bereaved families. The service supported families from pre-birth and the eldest service user being supported at the time of the inspection was 18 years old.

The service is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activities:

• Personal Care
• Treatment for Disease, Disorder and Injury

The current registered manager has been in post since June 2019. The location was registered in February 2014 and was last inspected in August 2014.

Updated 16 February 2023

We last inspected this location in 2014 when it was rated outstanding overall

We found this rating had not changed and we rated it outstanding overall because:

• The service had enough staff to care for children and young people and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect children and young people from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to children and young people, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• Staff gave children enough to eat and drink and gave them pain relief when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of children and young people, advised them and their families on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week. The service actively contributed to issuing bodies of best practice guidance.
• Feedback from staff, children and their families demonstrated children and young people received outstanding care from highly motivated staff who developed exceptionally positive, caring and compassionate relationships with them. Staff treated patients and their loved ones with compassion and kindness, respected their dignity and privacy, and went above and beyond expectations to meet their individual needs and wishes. Staff were devoted to doing all they could to support the emotional needs of children, families and carers to minimise their distress. Staff helped children and young people live every day to the fullest. Families and those that mattered to the person were supported to spend quality time with them.
• Services were planned and tailored to meet the complex needs of individual children, and the local population, in partnership with the wider health economy. The hospices’ services were delivered flexibly, by a responsive and passionate multidisciplinary team, providing choice and continuity of care for children and young people, their families and carers. The service made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it. The service helped families access help with the rising costs of living.
• Leaders operated effective governance processes and ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. The service had an open and positive culture that placed people at the heart of everything they did. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of children and young people receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with children, young people and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 16 February 2023

See overall summary above.