About Dorothy House Foundation Ltd
Dorothy House Hospice Care is concerned with making the most of living, of ensuring the best possible quality of life for people with life threatening illnesses.
The hospice also cares for patients in the last stages of their lives and at death. Every day more than 500 families in Bath, North East Somerset, North and West Wiltshire are supported by the hospice.
Most of the work takes place out in the community – caring for patients in the comfort of their own home, in one of the twelve community hospitals or in nursing and residential homes.
Care at home is supported by short stay care at the in-patient Assessment Unit at Winsley. Patients can also visit the Day Care Centre once a week.
Most patients are living with cancer but some have other life threatening illnesses such as motor neuron disease, AIDS and terminal heart and lung disease.
All Patient care is free of charge, funded by shops, legacies and some support from the NHS.
“The most memorable thing about Dorothy House is not the building or the facilities, lovely though they are, but the people working in it.”
Our history
The Dorothy House Foundation was set up in 1976, based in the Bath home of its founder, Prue Dufour (formerly Clench).
A woman of vision, determination and deep faith, she saw a need for care of terminally ill patients in their community, rather than in hospital.
She called the small hospice Dorothy House as a reflection of her Christian faith – the name Dorothy means ’gift of God’
As the value of hospice care became more widely recognised, Dorothy House opened bigger premises at 164 Bloomfield Road, next door to Prue’s home at 162.
By 1990, the team at Dorothy House was truly multi-professional, involving nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, lymphoedema specialists, chaplain, pharmacy and support staff, including large numbers of volunteers.
The building at Bloomfield Road was by now bursting at the seams, and in 1995 the hospice moved to Winsley.
The premises are spacious, with new purpose built in-patient facilities and beautiful grounds, and the range of services offered has expanded – but the fundamental approach to care has hardly changed since those early days, back in the 1970’s.