Trustees

Use your expertise in finance, NHS leadership, commissioning, and commercial and join the Board of an outstanding, high-profile care provider with a national and international reputation as an innovator in end-of-life care, research and education.

Location: 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, London SE26 6DZ

Applications close on Monday 2nd December

Who we are.

The modern hospice movement began at St Christopher’s over 55 years ago. Our legacy is strong, and our Trustees are currently considering the future health needs of our community so we can continue to deliver the best possible care.

We currently have two vibrant sites in South East London, providing excellent multi-professional care alongside our extensive community work. Last year, we provided care and support to over 7,500 people in the local area, with over 500 inpatient admissions, over 5,000 outpatient appointments, and over 13,000 home visits. We also have 24 charity shops supporting and contributing to our work, with over 500,000 customers visiting our stores last year.

Last year, we launched our new strategy – Making Your Time Matter, 2023-2026. We want to be part of a world where all dying people and those close to them have access to equitable care and support when and wherever they need it. We want to achieve this by tackling inequalities, fulfilling a national and global leadership role, creating a sustainable business model, equipping the future workforce and tackling ethical issues. We want to continue to share cutting-edge thinking and test solutions to improve care, we want to explore assisted dying with our communities and make recommendations to policymakers.

To achieve our vision, we are undertaking a significant refurbishment of our main site and planning our estate requirements to match our future needs. As two of our Trustees come to the end of their terms next year, we are looking for new Trustees to join us in the new year 2025.

About the roles.

Our Trustees work closely with our executive team to ensure we continue to provide outstanding care, maintain our international reputation for education and research, and remain appropriately resourced to serve our community in the future. Our Trustees provide strategic leadership and expertise from a range of backgrounds and industries, giving St Christopher’s the direction and insight to continue as a world leader in palliative care. We are actively considering the care our community will need in the future and how our estate supports this.

We are looking for three new Trustees with director-level experience to add to our existing skilled and diverse team of Trustees as we deliver outstanding care across South East London.

We are looking for a new Chair of our Finance, Audit and Risk committee as our current Chair of the committee, Catherine McDonald will come to the end of her term in September 2025. We are looking for someone with experience of finance and audit committees and it would be helpful to have charity finance experience.

As Eleanor Brown comes to the end of her term in September 2025, we are looking for a Trustee with strategic knowledge and experience of our health system, especially with primary care and/or community experience and particularly in South East London; we work across Croydon, Bromley, Southwark, Lewisham, and Lambeth. This person could bring expertise in commissioning, NHS leadership and/or clinical skills.

We want to appoint a third trustee to our Board, and we are open about the skillset and background of this person. We are interested in someone bringing local knowledge and experience to the Board, potentially with a commercial and/or fundraising background. Equally, we are interested in welcoming a trustee with experience in community development and supporting the local areas to improve end of life care. We would also welcome a trustee with experience in local government experience in the five boroughs we are active in. Whatever your background, we are looking for a person who is committed to the work of St Christopher’s as a compassionate and innovative modern hospice with a growing reputation nationally and internationally.

Our new Trustees will have the opportunity to be part of shaping St Christopher’s vision and always keeping the needs of the community at the forefront of what the hospice does, so it is vital that trustees have an affinity or passion for our work in end-of-life care.

Time Commitment

The board meets quarterly between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at our Sydenham site. We have an annual Board Away Day and an AGM. Trustees will join one of our subcommittees, which meets quarterly for an hour and a half online.

Overall, including events, preparation for board meetings, and ad hoc conversations with fellow board members and the executive team, we expect the overall time commitment to be the equivalent of up to a day a month, spread across various engagements.

We welcome applicants from our underrepresented areas, which include applicants from ethnic minority groups and diverse age and socio-economic groups.

Please click 'Apply via website’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the candidate profile and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close Monday 2nd December.