Virtual Hospice Chairs Group
The group brings together hospice Chairs to consider issues of mutual interest in their vital, voluntary roles.
Virtual Hospice Chairs Group
Hospice Chairs and trustees navigate governance, oversight, and strategy with limited peer dialogue — but their roles are critical and complex.
The Virtual Hospice Chairs Group is a quarterly, facilitated forum designed to help Chairs share experiences, test dilemmas, and deepen their leadership in a small, confidential environment.
‘As a relatively new Chair, attending these sessions has been invaluable. The chance to discuss aspects of the role with peers has been of immense help. We also share ideas and initiatives that our hospices have been developing to tackle the challenges facing the hospice sector. I really look forward to each session and always get a lot from them.’ Sarah Higgins, Chair, Community Hospice Greenwich & Bexley
The group lets you explore questions such as Board–Executive relationships, assurance vs interference, succession, collaboration, culture, and oversight.
Join if you want:
• Greater confidence in your governance role
• Peer coaching and insight on real-life challenges
• A forum to share ideas and innovations across hospices
• Tools and perspectives for more effective stewardship
Membership of the group is £150 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 some of our recent sessions. To learn more about the group, contact me.
October 2025 Achieving Retail Excellence
This month we were delighted to welcome Daniel Holloway, Commercial Director at Royal Trinity Hospice. Previously, as Retail Director, Daniel increased Royal Trinity’s retail profit by 50%, and now advises other charities on how to achieve similar results.
Daniel shared that successful hospice retail is built around these key pillars of excellence. But the message was clear. Customer experience is the most overlooked pillar — yet it’s where loyalty and value are created.
Daniel reinforced the power of emotional connection in charity settings. Ideas included:
✨ Retail storytelling — e.g., luggage labels sharing the history of unusual/high-value items
🖤 A “little black book” to track customer preferences for specific brands or product types
We learned that retail excellence in hospice shops is about creating places people love to visit while sustaining the mission that matters.👉 Start with research 👉 Know what you stand for 👉 Invest where customers notice 👉 Build emotional connection, not just transactions.
Thanks Daniel.
April 2025 Assurance versus Interference
‘Everything seems to be going OK. But how would I really know if it wasn’t?’
How many Chairs have asked themselves this question?
This session looked at the various ways of gathering information and feedback to enable Chairs and their fellow Trustees to be assured that the hospice is in a good place.
These varied from formal audits to informal visits and conversations with staff and volunteers; from questionnaires and statistics to ‘gut feel’ and instinct. But judging morale and culture is not easy, especially when you are told yours is a hands-off role.
You don’t want to be kept awake every night, worrying about what might be going on. But equally you don’t want to sleep soundly in a state of ignorance, only to have nightmares when you wake up!
January 2025 Managing Relationships
This session discussed the key role a Chair has in navigating relationships across the charity. Most prominent is the one between themselves and the CEO, arguably the most important in any charity. But those with individual Trustees are also key. And sometimes the Chair has to act as peacemaker or broker in disputes between other members of the Board or Executive.
The importance of strong EI skills, empathy and diplomacy was agreed upon. But also abiding by organisational values and not shying away from difficult decisions. In challenging times, the need to balance due process and being fair to those involved, but avoiding an elongated timescale that can seriously damage the charity was discussed.
The group agreed that having a mentor, or at least reliable people to share problems with, can be just as important for a Chair as it is for those in Executive roles.
October 2024 - Hospice Collaboration
'It used to be a risk to collaborate. Now it's risk not to.' These are the words of a former hospice CEO and certainly we are seeing more joint working with hospices than ever before.
Participants shared their experiences, agreeing on the need for the reasons for collaboration to be clear. They also discussed the challenges involved and how often these relate to the impact of different cultures or clashes between key individuals.
We agreed that the view that 'mergers reduce costs' is flawed, especially in the short-medium run. In fact, costs can increase due to redundancies and the extra resource required to manage the process. To see positive impact, one normally has to look at the long-term.
Examples of successful collaboration were also shared. Such as the Local Hospice Lottery model and hospices that shared Director posts.
