Developing day services to support people with life-limiting illness

Evolving Communities worked with Dorothy House Hospice Care to evaluate day service provision at the hospice. We created an online survey to gather views from people affected by life-limiting illness and findings from the survey helped to shape future day service provision.

Dorothy House Hospice Care

Dorothy House Hospice Care supports people with a life-limiting illness across a large geographical area which includes Bath and north-east Somerset, part of Wiltshire and part of Somerset.  Care and support is given at home, in the hospice or at outreach centres.  They are committed to consulting with people who use their services about the care they provide.

Dorothy House Day Services

As well as in-patient services, Dorothy House has a Day Patient Unit, and runs several groups where patients and carers/families can meet and talk to others who are in a similar position.  For example, a coffee club, Qigong, peer art support group, carers groups, and an allotment group.  They also provide a range of other services, including complementary therapies, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nutrition, and dietetic support and lymphoedema. 

Our work

Dorothy House commissioned Evolving Communities Consultancy to evaluate their day services provision. They wanted to ensure that their existing services met the needs of patients and families, and to understand how they might develop services and support further.

We ran an online survey to gather the views of people living with a life-limiting illness, those who care for and support someone who has a life-limiting illness, and those who work closely with people living with life-limiting illnesses.  Our findings will help shape Dorothy House’s future day services provision.