Chair

Information Pack

St Luke’s Hospice (Harrow & Brent) LtdAugust 2016

Letter from Robin Webb, Chief Executive

Dear Applicant

I am delighted that you are interested in becoming Chair of St Luke’s Hospice. We’ve been serving the people of Harrow and Brent for almost 30 years (it’s our 30th birthday in 2017). We were founded by local people with a passion to provide high quality care and support to people at the end of their lives and this ethos continues to drive our work.

Our vision is of “A world where everyone can access the care, treatment and support they need to live well, know that their family and carers are supported, and die with dignity in the place of their choice.”

Most people when they hear ‘hospice’ think of a place where people go to die’, and that is certainly part of what we do but our aim is to help people to live well in the time they have left. Many people start their journey with St Luke’s when they still have many months to live and we help them cope with their symptoms and provide practical and emotional supportto help them achieve their ambitions – whether it is to keep working, to be fitter so they can walk to the local shop, or enable them to have the conversations they want to with their family – including about dying and death.

The majority of our work is supporting people in their homes and this is a growing area. But the key is about choice, we enable people to be cared for where they want and at the end die in the place of their choice.

We remain at the heart of our communities – providing care and support to people living in Harrow and Brent - 2 of London’s most diverse boroughs, and the profile of the patients we support increasingly reflects the demographics of the area. In turn we rely on the support of those communities in raising over £4million each year to fund our work (we receive around £1.4m from the government through the Brent and Harrow Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)).

We also rely on our communities to deliver our services – in May 2016 we had 948 active volunteers serving every aspect of our work from the In Patient Unit to gardeners, shops to fundraising, reception to day care. Our volunteers gave over 160,000 hours in 2015 – that’s the equivalent of nearly 90 full time staff - we simply could not do what we do without them.

Few people want to die in hospital – and yet the majority still do, and often this is not a good experience. There is much more that we need to do. This year we appointed a specialist nurse to work with local care homes to help upskill their staff so they can better care for people towards the end of life – this has already had a significant impact on the number of people being unnecessarily admitted to hospital, enabling them to remain in their home – just one example of how we are seeking to influence more widely.

This is an exciting time to lead our board at St Luke’s as we seek to reach even more people, and influence systems to improve outcomes for more people and broaden the educational aspects of our work. If you share our passion for people, and our excitement about the future opportunities and challenges then I look forward to hearing from you and meeting you later in the process.

Best wishes

Robin Webb – Chief Executive

Letter from Mike Redhouse, current Chair

Why should anyone want to be Chair of the Trustees at St Luke’s?

In my five years as Chair the experience has transformed my faith in my fellow people.

There are those who despair of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society; they should share my experience of working on a team at St Luke’s with all the diversity of our volunteers, staff, and Trustees. This shows what can be done as Chair to set the context and strategy for them.

There are those who despair of our young people, see them as selfish and uncaring. They should come and see our events and watch these youngsters raise our money and our spirits with their enthusiasm. This shows what a Chair can do to make sure they can.

There are those who despair of our NHS and see only the gaps in service. They should come and see how care and compassion at the end of life can be achieved by us working together with the NHS and adding to their service not deriding it. As Chair you can ensure this continues.

There are those who see localism and neighbourliness as disappearing. They should come to our shops and events and see how Harrow and Brent can achieve things for themselves. As Chair you can help inspire them.

In my time as Chair I have learnt all these good things. You could make sure they continue.

Mike Redhouse - Chair

About St Luke‘s Hospice

OurVision

Aworldwhereeveryonecanaccessthecare,treatmentandsupporttheyneedtolivewell,knowthattheirfamilyand carersaresupported,anddiewithdignityin theplaceoftheirchoice.

OurMission

Wewillbethedrivingforceforhighquality,compassionatepalliativecareforthepeople ofHarrowBrent,and we will:

•Extendourservicesandreachmorepeople,earlierin theirillness,workingincollaborationwherethisis mosteffective

•Supportandempowerhealthandsocialcareprofessionalsthrougheducationandtraining

•InfluenceandshapeEndofLifecarepoliciestoimprovetheprovisionandqualityofcare

Mainactivities

WeprovidespecialistpalliativecareservicestopeoplelivingwithaterminalillnessintheLondonBoroughsof HarrowandBrentandsupport fortheirfamilies.

Ourservicesinclude:

•SupportforpeopleintheirhomethroughourSpecialistCommunityPalliativeCareandHospiceatHome Teams

•Awiderangeofoutpatientsessionsandday-hospiceservicesthroughourWoodgrangeCentre

•Intensivesupport forpatientsinourin-patientunit

•Supportforfamiliesandcarersincludingbereavementsupport

•Educationofhealthsocialcareprofessionals

Brief overview of 2015

During the year we extended our services to reach significantly more people supporting a total of 1,028 an increase of 228 on the previous year. The key driver for this was the launch of our Single Point of Access / 24 hour telephone service supporting people living in Harrow in the last year of life – this service supported 316 people from its launch in May 2015 and we are delighted that the pilot has been extended for a further year to March 2017.

We continued to receive excellent feedback from patients and families for every part of the care and support we provide. We have used feedback and any raised by patients and families to continuously drive improvement to our services. We launched a Quality Improvement Group programme which has involved 2 groups of staff from across the hospice, encouraging and supporting them to identify potential improvements, giving them the tools to implement changes and evaluate the impact.

Our trading subsidiary opened 2 new charity shops with heads of terms had been agreed to acquire another shop at the end of December. This opened in Feb 2016, taking us to 17 shops – toward our strategy to double the profits from our shop network by 2018.

Fundraising again delivered a strong performance across its wide range of income streams, piloting several new events as part of our strategy to deliver additional income to fund further expansion of our services. The exceptional result for the year was due to unexpected legacy income.

We achieved our first ever Investors in people accreditation, recognising the value we place in our staff – a milestone in the ongoing work to ensure we recruit and retain the best people.

We said farewell to 4 trustees who had completed their term of office and recruited 3 new trustees who joined in June 2015.

Our work in numbers:

Have a look at our Trustee Annual Report for more detail – here’s a brief extract:

2015 / 2014 / Inc / (Dec) % / Notes
Total Patients supported / 1028 / 800 / 28.5% / New Single Point of Access service launched May 2015
Day-care and outpatient sessions / 2,123 / 1,840 / 15.3%
Complementary therapy and Physiotherapy sessions / 2,318 / n/a / New recording introduced in 2015
Patients supported by Hospice at Home / 349 / 287 / 21.6%
Hours of care provided at home / 19,080 / 11,157 / 71% / 13,561 Hours provided by Hospice at Home (+21.5%)
5,519 hours provided by Single Point of Access of Service - contributing an increase of 49.5% in hours of care
Patients Supported by community team / 401 / 392 / 2.2%
Visits by community team / 1,651 / 986 / 67%
Days of Inpatient care / 3,040 / 2,998 / 1.4%

Key resources

  • £7.9million turnover (2015)
  • 200 staff – 145 in the charity, 55 in the shops trading subsidiary
  • 948 active volunteers (May 2016)

Our Values and Beliefs

People are at the heart of everything we do – this is reflected in our values which encompass:

People, Teamwork, Equality, Fairness, Professionalism and our environment

Chair of the Board

We are looking for a Chair who will draw together the enthusiasm and expertise of the Trustees and Senior Executive Team and provide clear leadership to the Board as we seek to deliver our ambitious plans to reach more people, driving significant increases in income from our Fundraising and Shops to fund this growth. Your people skills will be key, from your experience of chairing diverse groups of people to achieve shared objectives, to engaging with our wide range of stakeholders including our 950 volunteers through to local councillors, MPs and local community groups.

About the role

The Chair provides leadership to the Board of Trusteeswhich has overall responsibility for the strategic direction, management and control of St Luke’s through involvement with strategy formulation and monitoring, risk management and internal controls. The Trustees work in partnership with the Senior Executive Team (SET) to develop strategic plans and then delegates implementation of the strategy and day to day management of the hospice to the SET.

The Chair and CEO relationship is vital to the success of the charity and they currently meet monthly to review progress and identify challenges and emerging issues.

Role description:

The Chair will provide leadership to the Board of Trustees to ensure that each trustee fulfils their duties and responsibilities for the effective governance of the Hospice and Executive Team. The Chair will also support the Chief Executive and where appropriate challenge the Chief Executive in the delivery of the Hospice’s mission and vision. He or she will ensure that the Board functions as a unit and works inclusively with the Executive of the Hospice to achieve agreed objectives. The Chair will act as an ambassador and public face of the Hospice in partnership with the Chief Executive.

Principal responsibilities

Strategic leadership

  • Provide leadership to the Board and ensure clear strategic direction for the Hospice
  • Work constructively with the Chief Executive to ensure that the Hospice delivers maximum benefits to all patients and service users
  • Together with the Chief Executive work towards making the Hospice an employer of choice
  • Ensure that Trustees fulfil their duties and responsibilities for the effective governance of the Hospice ensuring systems are in place to take advantage of opportunities and to manage and mitigate major risks
  • Ensure that the Board fulfils its duties to ensure sound financial health, accountability and reporting
  • Ensure that the Board maintains the values, mission and vision of the Hospice at all times

Governance

  • Ensure that there are effective and efficient governance arrangements in place
  • Support and develop the knowledge and capability of the Board of Trustees
  • Encourage appropriate behaviours and engagement amongst Trustees and resolve any conflicts
  • Appraise the performance of the Trustees and the Board on an annual basis
  • Ensure that the Board of Trustees is regularly refreshed and incorporates the right balance of skills, knowledge and experience needed to govern and lead the Hospice effectively, and which also reflects the wider population
  • Work within any agreed policies adopted by the Hospice

External Relations

  • Act as an ambassador for the Hospice
  • Develop and maintain constructive relationships with local councillors and external stakeholders
  • Facilitate change, understand and address any potential areas of conflict with external stakeholders
  • Act as a spokesperson for the organisation when appropriate
  • Represent the Hospice at external functions, meetings and events

Efficiency and effectiveness

  • Chair meetings of the Board of Trustees effectively and efficiently, bringing impartiality and objectivity to the decision making process
  • Ensure that Trustees are fully engaged and take collective ownership of decisions
  • Foster, maintain and ensure that constructive relationships exist with and between the Trustees
  • Work closely with the Chief Executive to give direction to Board policy-making
  • Monitor decisions taken at meetings and ensure that they are implemented

Relationship with the Chief Executive and the wider management team

  • Establish and build a strong, effective and a constructive working relationship with the Chief Executive, ensuring their accountability for delivering agreed strategic objectives
  • Support the Chief Executive, whilst respecting the boundaries between the two roles
  • Ensure regular contact with the Chief Executive to develop and maintain an open and supportive relationship that underpins a culture of honesty and openness throughout the Hospice
  • Conduct an annual appraisal and remuneration review for the Chief Executive in consultation with other Trustees
  • Ensure that the Chief Executive and Executive Team have the opportunity for appropriate professional development and support

Additional information

  • The above list is indicative only and not exhaustive. The Chair will be expected to perform all such additional duties as are reasonably commensurate with the role.
  • The role of Chair is not financially remunerated, although reasonable travel expenses may be claimed
  • The Vice-Chair acts for the Chair when the Chair is not available and undertakes assignments at the request of the Chair

Person Specification

Essential

  • Experience of committee work and chairing with strong facilitation skills that will enable the Board to reach collective decisions
  • Proven track record of stakeholder management
  • Understanding of good governance and the boundaries between executive and non-executive roles
  • Understanding of complex financial information
  • Excellent communication, interpersonal and networking skills
  • Ability to negotiate, influence and convince through personal credibility
  • Tact and diplomacy and personal integrity
  • Commitment to the local area served by the Hospice
  • Commitment to equality and diversity issues
  • Demonstrable passion for the purpose and values of the Hospice and hospice movement
  • Commitment to attend all Board Meetings and be available for the Chief Executive and others as required

Desirable

  • Media presence or engaging public speaker
  • Experience of successful fundraising
  • Experience of working with volunteers
  • Understanding of key issues in health and social care

We expect all Trustees to adhere to the seven principles of public office:

1. Selflessness - should act solely in terms of the public interest.

2. Integrity - must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

3. Objectivity - must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

4. Accountability - are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

5. Openness - should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.

6. Honesty - should be truthful.

7. Leadership - should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and be willing to challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Time commitment

  • This is a voluntary post with a time commitment in the region of 2 days a month (including weekend and evening activities)
  • Length of tenure is 3 years with potential for a second term
  • Board meetings take placequarterly and our 3 main sub committees also meet quarterly in the run up to the Board meetings. We also hold an awayday in October each year and plan to introduce a second awayday in April from 2017
  • Main committees – Finance & General Purposes, Clinical Governance, Fundraising – the Remuneration committee meets as required, generally once a year

How to apply

If you would like to apply, please provide an up to date CV together with a supporting letter explaining why you are interested in this role and how you fit the role description and person specification to Jocelyn Ridley at JMR Consultants by Monday 5 September, email . We will be assessing applications against the criteria so please make sure that you demonstrate your suitability in your CV and letter.

Timetable

The important dates for you to note in the recruitment timetable are highlighted below for your diary.

Closing date for applicationsMonday 5 September

First interviews with JMRCongoing

Shortlistingw/c 12 Sept

Informal Meetings with CEO and others on sitew/c 19 Sept

Final interviewsw/c 19 Sept

If you have any questions about the process, the timetable or you wish to discuss your suitability, please don’t hesitate to contact Jocelyn (phone: 07976 395688 / 01225 332580 or email: ) or Ann Gill (phone: 07787 512129 / 01428 652857 or email: .

More information about the St Luke’s Hospice can be found on their website:

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JMR Consultants / /