Julia's House Children's Hospice

Julia's House Dorset & Wiltshire Children's Hospices provides care for children with life-shortening or life-threatening illnesses and support for their families. Its core principles – Compassionate and caring, Honesty and integrity, It's up to all of us, Listen and learn, Determined to excel – perfectly encapsulate the type of staff it wants to attract.

The Devizes-based charity achieves nationally-recognised standards in care quality, management skills training and employee engagement by supporting staff to be the best they can be in an emotionally demanding but immensely rewarding environment.

In such a challenging field, paramount importance is placed on the wellbeing of the team. Managers worked “frenetically” early in the pandemic to source PPE, testing kits and vaccines for their teams. Staff wellbeing groups were created with links provided to wellbeing apps and webinars while the hospice continues to provide a free confidential counselling and employee assistance helpline.

One mark of excellence is recognising the impact on the families with children in its care. It plays a lead role in national research into the benefits of regular respite breaks for parental relationships.