Julia's House

Our Aim

Julia's House aim is to maximise and enrich the quality of life for Dorset children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, providing support from their diagnosis through to their death, and beyond for the family. Care takes place in our hospice building, or in the family home and multi-disciplinary end of life care.

Julia's House operates an open referral system whereby any young person or individual known to the young person/child is welcome to make a referral. Please note however, we require the parent/guardian signature and a doctor's signature on the referral form.

Acceptance Criteria

The acceptance criteria for the hospice service is based on the four broad categories of life-limiting conditions described by the Association for Children with Life-threatening or Terminal conditions and their families (ACT). All referrals must fit in to one of these categories.

Group 1

Life-threatening conditions for which curative treatment may be feasible, but can fail. Where access to palliative care services may be necessary when treatment fails e.g. cancer (usually solid tumours), irreversible organ failures of heart, liver, kidneys.

Group 2

Conditions where premature death is inevitable, where there may be long periods of intensive treatment aimed at prolonging life and allowing participation in other activities (e.g. cystic fibrosis).

Group 3

Progressive conditions without curative treatment options, where treatment is exclusively palliative and may commonly extend over many years (e.g. Batten disease, mucopolysaccharidoses, muscular dystrophy).

Group 4

Irreversible, but non-progressive conditions causing severe disability leading to susceptibility to health complications and likelihood of premature death (e.g. severe cerebral palsy, multiple disabilities such as brain or spinal cord insult).

In addition, the following criteria apply to Julia’s House:

• Families must reside within Dorset
• Young people to be under 18 years of age with a fragile life expectancy, 16 - 18 yr olds will be assessed sensitively according to the needs and life expectancy of the young person
• The parents of the young person and where appropriate the young person must give their consent for the referral
• The relevant section on the referral form must be completed, clearly identifying how the young person’s medical condition fits the criteria and signed by a medical practitioner

If the young person has one of the following conditions please call the hospice on 01202 389837 for additional criteria:

• Acquired neuro-disability
• Oncology
• Retts Syndrome