Putting our trust in good people. Why our trustees make such a big difference.

Unless you work or volunteer at our hospice you may not realise that everything we do, and all that we stand for, is overseen by a group of experienced and dedicated people who make up our board of trustees.

This Trustees’ Week (3-7 November), we’d like you to join us all in extending grateful thanks to the people who give up their own time for free to make sure that all the legal and operational processes, necessary for the running of our services, run smoothly.

We don’t tend to shout out to the wider world about their contribution to our hospice, mainly because they encourage us to give all the credit to the people who deliver our specialist care and support services and to our whole Wirral community, individuals and organisations, who make it possible.

Working in collaboration with Helen Brown, Wirral Hospice’s chief executive, along with the rest of our senior leadership team (SLT), our  trustees have a statutory duty to be a ‘critical friend’ to the hospice, analysing, questioning and, once agreement is reached, supporting the whole team to deliver hospice care and support services to a level people can be extremely proud of.

There are four full board meetings every year, once a quarter, to check progress against budgets and strategic objectives, scrutinise data, and review updated policies. Their expertise is also called upon at two strategy-building away days where, again, sitting with the SLT, minds will be focused on setting a vision for further years ahead.

There is an awful lot of paperwork and data to read before meetings; the job of a trustee is so much more than being available for meetings. Each trustee has further responsibilities to chair / attend other sub-committees, and to oversee governance in the following areas:

Clinical & Medical: patient care and support services for patients, families and loved ones.

Workforce: human resources matters, volunteer services, learning and development

Finance & Infrastructure: finances, IT, building and technical support services.

Income Generation & Marketing: retail, lottery, donations, events & companies, communications.

There are currently twelve trustees for Wirral Hospice St John’s, and you can find out more about their backgrounds and the strengths they each bring to our core mission, to put patients and their families at the heart of all we do, at this link:

www.wirralhospice.org/trustees

So, please can you join us all in saying a grateful thanks to Mr Tim Mc Donnell (Chair), Dr Jean Quinn (Deputy Chair), and also, Julie Wynne, Dr Hilary Leggatt, Lyn Meadows, Nichola Sandman, Dr Roger Platt, Jenny Porter, Sheena Hennell, Lee Donaghy, Dr Beverley Oates, and Dr Michelle Gallagher.

With their direction and support, Wirral Hospice is in a really good position to serve our community.

Many thanks again to our trusted trustees from everyone involved with our hospice!