Virtual Hospice CEO Group
The Virtual Hospice CEO Group meets monthly to discuss and address strategic issues facing the sector with the input of an expert external speaker.
The Virtual Hospice CEO Group
Leading a hospice in today’s environment is uniquely difficult: funding pressures, complex regulations, partnerships, culture, and sustainability.
The Virtual Hospice CEO Group offers a high-trust, expert-facilitated monthly forum where hospice chief executives can gather to challenge assumptions, test strategies, share hard truths, and learn from peers.
Each session combines peer-led discussion with external expert insight, ensuring that every meeting is fresh, relevant, and fully applicable to your role. Liz Searle, CEO at Keech Hospice has been a member since 2021.
‘I always enjoy attending the sessions. We have a great variety of speakers and I always come away with some really beneficial insights or ideas. Highly recommended!’
With numbers capped to maintain intimacy and confidentiality, you’ll find inspiration and practical value that you can bring back to your hospice.
Join if you want:
• A safe space to discuss existential, strategic and operational issues
• Access to tested ideas, case studies and outsider perspectives
• Peer support to reduce isolation in a high-stakes role
• A forum to push yourself and your hospice forward
Membership of the group is £175 plus VAT per session. This also entitles you to 10% reduction in charges for other services we provide, plus other benefits.
Below are details about recent sessions. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact me.
June 2026
The Steep Climb to Sustainability
Hospices are facing their most challenging ever financial operating environment. This month's session laid that reality bare - but also evidence that this can be overcome.
We heard how St Luke's in Sheffield turned five years of deficits into a break-even position and the gains in statutory funding made through the West Yorkshire Hospice Collaborative.
Other speakers shared how commercial ventures — from domiciliary care to retail and lottery income — are filling the gap left by traditional fundraising.
Given the current pressures on hospice finances — a third consecutive year of rising deficits, 30% wage inflation and falling returns from retail and fundraising — this kind of peer exchange feels more essential than ever.
May 2026 What can hospices learn from Air Ambulance Charities? Mark Jarman-Howe, CEO Essex & Herts AAC and David Welch, CEO Kent, Surrey & Sussex AAC.
It was great to be joined this month by two AAC CEOs who previously worked for hospices to share their observations on commonalities and differences between the two sectors.
AACs are one of the fastest growing types of charities, leveraging their local nature and profile as a vital emergency service. Mark and David gave us an in-sight into how they work alongside the NHS and the importance of the clinical-fundraising interface - both themes that are very relevant to hospices too.
We also explored the possibility of co-operation between such charities, for example around bereavement care and family support.
The conclusion was that hospices and AACs have much more in common than you might at first think.
April 2026
Thinking Differently About Risk, Sabrina Segal
The hospice sector is facing a scale and range of challenges unprecedented in its history. But the tools we use to manage uncertainty are from another era.
Sabrina Segal is challenging the charity sector's reliance on backward looking, two dimensional tools to manage risk, such as Risk Registers.
Her approach is rooted in the idea that risk management shouldn't be a compliance exercise bolted onto strategy by using one dimensional, backward looking tools. It should be woven deep into how organisations make decisions, set objectives, and allocate resources.
Her session covers topics such as
— Why risk culture matters more than risk tools
— Systems thinking: why the real world isn't linear, and why your risk process shouldn't pretend it is
— Organisational fragility: shifting from listing threats to understanding where you're genuinely vulnerable and where you're stronger than you think
The session concluded with discussions about implementing these tools in practice, with participants expressing interest in using these for upcoming projects and scenario planning.
October 2025 Transformative Funding
The commitment to invest £60 million over 6 years in end of life care by the NW London ICB has raised huge interest across the hospice sector in recent months. So, we were delighted to be joined by Jane Wheeler, CEO of Harlington Hospice one of the four independent services who will benefit from this funding.
Jane’s dual perspective as the former NW London ICB Director and now CEO of a hospice offered rare insight into what made this work.
I could write several pages of learning points from what Jane said to us. But these are three of the key ones.
🧱 1. Build Brick by Brick — and Don’t Start with Funding. The partnership began not with a plea for money, but with a shared commitment to equity of services across communities.
🤝 2. Co-Commissioning Is More Than a Buzzword. Hospices weren’t just seen as providers — they were positioned as co-commissioners.
🧩 3. Present as One Voice. The four charitable hospices aligned messaging, resolved any differences offline, and showed up united. The benefits of working in such a collaborative manner have been seen elsewhere in the country, such as West Yorkshire and Kent.
In what has been such a difficult year for so many hospices, this was an uplifting session.
March 2026 Rachel McMillan, CEO Moya Cole Hospice & Andrea Daniels, Keech Hospice Hospice Rebrands
This session explored two significant hospice rebranding journeys.
Rachel McMillan shared Moya Cole Hospice’s bold decision to move away from the long‑established St Ann’s name. She described the research, public reaction, and the impact on staff and volunteers as they also transition into a new building and the deliberate decision to combine these two major organisational landmarks.
Rachel reflected on the balance between honouring heritage and creating a brand that better reflects their community and future ambitions, noting that early fundraising indicators are positive. They are the first hospice to make the decision to transition from a saint’s name to a more secular title. It will be fascinating to see if others follow.
Andrea Daniels outlined Keech Hospice’s two‑year rebrand, which evolved from a refresh into a full repositioning. She described the extensive stakeholder engagement and the introduction of a modern visual identity that has already driven significant increases in website traffic and social engagement.
The group discussed ROI, timing, and the practicalities of embedding a new brand across large teams and retail estates.
A rich and energising discussion that highlighted both the courage and the complexity involved in reshaping a hospice’s identity while staying true to its roots.
December 2025 Hospice UK Conference
Our final session of the year discussed some of the main topics coming out of the recent Hospice UK conference in Liverpool.
CEOs were largely pessimistic that the NHS long-term plan and the creation of a 'Modern Service Framework' will lead to a fundamental and positive increase to funding.
However, there was some optimism that when (if?) Assisted Dying legislation is passed, this may be the factor that makes the case for proper long-term funding of end of life care unstoppable.
The irony here is that legislation that many people in the sector do not support or at least have grave concerns about, could prove to be the catalyst to sustainable funding.
When I asked people to summarise what 2025 had meant for them, the responses were, somewhat to my surprise, full of optimism, hope and achievement despite all the great challenges that everyone is aware of.
This ‘realistic resilience’ is testimony to the passion and drive that has always been a feature of hospice care and will be vital to maintain going forward to face the challenges of 2026.
January 2026
Steph Edusei, CEO St Oswald's Hospice
Steph is one of the most admired CEO in the sector, acknowledged for her calm, honest and inclusive style. This session involved a discussion about some of the ideas in her book ‘Little Lessons in Leadership.’
The group explored challenges and experiences related to leadership expectations, particularly around gender and cultural fit, while discussing the importance of authenticity, work-life balance, and creating supportive environments.
The session concluded with reflections on personal leadership journeys, the value of coaching and open communication.
An inspiring and invigorating hour and a half.
November 2025
Radical Hope - Daisy O'Reilly-Weinstock
It was great to have Daisy O'Reilly-Weinstock with us this month - her second session after discussing The Future of Charity' report a couple of years ago.
Daisy pushed us to re-think core concepts and assumptions, whilst proposing her model of ‘radical hope’ as a framework to inspire us in challenging times. Two of the quotes from her latest report show her passion.
‘Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the girt of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth and she rise for another go.’
‘Hope is co-created. It grows in proximity, in relationship, and shared ownership. It means moving beyond participation as a gesture and into participation. The communities you serve are not just recipients. They are co-builders of change. Shift your posture. Share the pen. Build structures that hold more than one voice at a time.’
August 2025 Nigel Hartley MBE
It was a pleasure to welcome Nigel Hartley MBE as the speaker at the latest session.
Nigel has spent over 40 years in the End of Life care sector, but will shortly step down from his role as CEO of the Mountbatten Hospice Group.
Nigel shared his experiences working at the London Lighthouse in the early years of the AIDS crisis and then reflected on his time at St Christopher’s, including getting to know Dame Cicely Saunders.
He moved onto his time at Mountbatten, in particular the merger between the Isle of Wight’s service and the NHS unit in Southampton, the challenges of hospice collaboration and the success of their annual ‘Walk the Wight’ event which now raises over £500,000!
In recent months his time has been dominated by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB’s decision to withdraw £1.4 million in funding from their services, a move now partly but not permanently reversed.
Nigel was also incredibly open talking about the vulnerabilities and self-doubt he has had in leadership, but also the power of being fully open with staff and volunteers about threats and challenges.
Thanks for speaking so openly and honestly Nigel. And all the best with whatever the future has in hold for you.
September 2025 The Collaborative CEO Office
A fascinating session of The Virtual Hospice CEO Group this month.
Three members of the Prince of Wales Hospice Collaborative CEO Office shared insights into their unique leadership model. Under this, six Directors jointly share the CEO responsibilities equally, with no single person being the 'first among equals'. They operate in a collaborative and values-driven manner, with clear protocols for decision-making.
Over the four years it has been in place, three of the original six directors have moved on. But the model has proven to be robust and effective enough to continue. Indeed, new members have brought fresh perspectives and new skills to the group.
Joint CEOs are, of course, not uncommon in the charity sector today. But our discussions concluded that the more enlarged Collaborative CEO approach has distinct advantages over this model.
Of course, this way of working also has its challenges. However, in a world where more CEOs (whether single or joint) are feeling the pressures of their roles, the Collective CEO approach offers a different way of doing things.
