Stewart Marks is the chief executive of Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care, based in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, which formally started operating on 1 July 2023. This followed the merger between Rennie Grove Hospice Care and Peace Hospice Care. One year on, much of Stewart’s time is focused on leading and developing the charity during this exciting period of change and growth, here he details a week in his life.

Monday

I start the week with a meeting in Buckinghamshire at the home of one of our long-standing donors, who has had an association with the charity for over 30 years, alongside her husband. Our conversation is centred on our charity’s focus over the coming year and how the current service is delivering. At Rennie Grove Peace, we provide free care to patients with a progressive life-limiting diagnosis, and support to those around them, including inpatient services at Peace Hospice in Watford and community-based Hospice at Home care delivered via an extensive team of specialist community nurses. We are funded largely through generous community donations, and our marketing focus is on raising awareness of the full range of care that we provide to so many local people.

On the way to my next meeting in Milton Keynes, I nip home for a quick lunch and a catch up with my partner, who works from home, and our Fox Red Labrador, Reg, before heading out to see another donor, who is also a friend and consultant for the charity. She has been a great support over the last year. Merging with another successful local hospice was always going to be a positive move for us, and we can see that many further hospice mergers are likely, given the current funding challenges that the sector faces. The driving force behind our decision was the goal to increase both the reach and scope of services, as we now serve a population of one million people across Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Tuesday

Today is an office-based day. The drive from home, in South Oxfordshire, takes about 45 minutes and I tend to drive in silence and use the time to plan the day in my head. That being said, if I’ve had a particularly bad day, I will drive home with the music blaring from my Spotify playlist!

I was due to be meeting the chief executive from another local charity to talk about collaboration but they have had to postpone, giving me the opportunity to catch up on outstanding email invitations from a couple of other newly appointed chief executives from charities who are keen to connect. One of them would like support from me to help shape the vision and values for their organisation using my experience and knowledge of the sector. Something I’m very happy to do.

My next meeting is with our director of people & culture to discuss improvements to the employee experience at Rennie Grove Peace. This work has been driven by a staff survey completed post-merger when we brought together two separate teams into one organisation – a complicated task that needed sensitive handling. We are now looking at where we are one year on and how to respond and engage on any issues that have arisen in that time.
I have a chat with one of our longest serving nurses who has been with us 20 years but is now leaving to move to a role at another charity. I’m sorry to see her go because she has been an amazing asset for us, but this is a great career opportunity for her. She has been offered a chance to grow and develop, but we will miss her.

I meet with our director of finance and chief clinical officer to discuss plans for clinical expenditure in 2024/25. Hospice care is an incredibly underfunded sector and does not get 100% statutory funding like some other charities providing core services. The constant challenge with our work is how we make up that shortfall and much of that pressure falls on our amazing retail and fundraising teams who work so hard to raise the funds necessary to do the work that we do.

I head off for dinner with friends who breed horses, in the Cotswolds. I’m staying over tonight as they live close to the venue of the meeting I’m due at the following day.

Wednesday

I’m in Chipping Campden today in my capacity as trustee for National Association for Hospice at Home (NAHH). Community engagement and the work that hospices can do for people in their own homes, is something that I’m passionate about. I trained as a volunteer Compassionate Neighbour myself and know how important the work is, that community nurses and volunteers do for a charity like ours.

I spend all day with my fellow trustees, working on plans for our members, who are all hospice and end of life care providers. We are currently preparing for our first face-to-face conference for two years, this coming June, so there is a lot to discuss.

Thursday

I’m back in the office today and start with a quick catch up with my executive assistant, Sam, to go through the diary for the following week. She also reminds me of the tasks on my to-do list!

I then have my regular one-to-one meeting with our charity chair briefing him on our latest activities. A lot of our time is currently taken up thinking about our governance review and the structure of the charity in 2024. Despite formally operating since July 2023, the structure was originally planned two years ago, so we need to make sure that what we have in place is still right for the organisation and where it is now.

I spend my afternoon in a planning meeting with our director of people & culture discussing the plans to develop the Executive Board, Leadership Team and our workforce. We have three big projects running in 2024 focused around our people. Each one is sponsored by members of our Executive Board with the focus on Building and Living our Values, Building a Caring and Supportive Culture and Retaining and Attracting the Best People. The aim of this work is to improve the working environment for all our colleagues and we will have people at all different levels involved in the process.

Friday

I start the day with a conversation with our director of development, operations & performance about a recent tender we submitted to retain our statutory services in Buckinghamshire for another year. We’ve been delivering end of life care in the county for over 35 years so I hope that we can continue to provide that service. We reflect together on the challenges around funding end of life care, which, unlike maternity and birth is not state funded and is largely left to the charity sector. We receive less than a quarter of our income through funding for the services we provide and the rest has to be found through donations, fundraising and our retail services.

Finally, I spend some time preparing for the next Advisory Council meeting of Hospice UK, the national charity for hospice and end of life care, as a member representing other hospices.

It’s been a busy week and as I drive home I listen to Desert Island Discs and look forward to a relaxing weekend and a chance to take Reg out for some long country walks.

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