Category: Hospice News
Celebrating St Barnabas team members Amy Damarell, Majella Wright, and Jake Bontoft!
We’re celebrating three of our fantastic St Barnabas team members who have recently graduated!
???? Amy Damarell, Nurse Associate – Inpatient Unit
???? Majella Wright, MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner
???? Jake Bontoft, Specialist Nurse Practitioner (IPU) & Research Nurse
Their hard work, dedication, and passion for learning are helping us deliver outstanding care to those who need it most.
Amy: “I’ve worked in the unit for over 11 years, and recently qualified as a Nursing Associate. This new role lets me provide person-centred care alongside our nursing team. I’m so thankful to St Barnabas – I was able to complete this training thanks to St Barnabas putting me forward and supporting me with university time, placements, and insights into areas of nursing.”
Majella: “My course gave me the skills to work at an advanced level across clinical care, education, leadership and research. St Barnabas Hospice supported me by giving me time to attend University, allowing me to gain all my practical experience, and providing me with supportive mentorship throughout the last three years. I use the skills I obtained in my daily practice by providing clinical expertise, reasoning, knowledge, and mentorship to the people I work with.”
Jake: “Completing my Masters in Advanced Clinical Practice has given me the skills to lead, teach, research, and provide expert care. Thanks to the trust’s support, I graduated with a Distinction and use what I’ve learned every day in my role.”
Please join us in congratulating Amy, Majella, and Jake. We are so lucky to have you on Team St Barnabas.
An Important Update on our Financial Position
St Barnabas Hospice currently receives just 44% statutory funding. We are experiencing an increasingly challenging and uncertain time, with rising running costs of £40,000 per day and recent National Insurance and National Living Wage increases further impacting our position.
This is despite a recent one-off government capital investment, which must only be used for building maintenance, technology equipment and income generation opportunities. It cannot legally be used to pay salaries or fund services.
An emerging trend of current and recurring operational deficits is not financially sustainable.
St Barnabas Hospice is not alone in facing this, and many Hospices and other charities are also struggling in the current climate with services being cut sector-wide. As responsible custodians of the charity, we are taking early, transparent steps to protect our services and sustainability.
Anyone currently receiving our hospice care either at the Inpatient Units or at home will not be affected.
St Barnabas CEO, Chris Wheway explains:
St Barnabas CEO, Chris Wheway explains: “Over the past year, including during our Christmas ‘Light Up A Life’ appeal, we have been open about the growing financial pressures facing St Barnabas Hospice.
“We are proud of the work we do, and proud of the people who make it possible. We are considering every option to manage our resources wisely and reduce costs where possible, introducing a mutually agreed resignation scheme (MARS) and exploring new income generation opportunities.
“We are working hard to ensure that St Barnabas Hospice remains here for future generations, offering compassionate, dignified care to those who need us most.”
Collaborating closely with staff, volunteers and partners – including the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board – we hope to find the best path forward. We remain committed to delivering outstanding palliative and end-of-life care across the county.
We are deeply grateful to our community for their continued support, now more than ever.
The Executive Team,
St Barnabas Hospice
Celebrating our Hidden Teams at St Barnabas: Information Management and Technology Department
St Barnabas has over 300 members of clinical and non-clinical staff working to support our vision – a world where dying with dignity, compassion and having choices is a fundamental part of a life.
The hard work and dedication of all our staff ensures we can continue providing vital end-of-life care, across Lincolnshire. This year we’re shining spotlights on hidden teams and highlighting the incredible work they do to support St Barnabas.
The Information Management and Technology (IM&T) Department work behind the scenes at St Barnabas, ensuring the smooth operation, security, and advancement of all technology-related functions.
Chris Candlin, Infrastructure Engineer, says: “This includes managing hardware, software, and networks, providing technical support to employees, implementing cybersecurity measures, overseeing data protection and backups, and ensuring compliance with regulations.
“The team also plan ahead for future technology needs, as well as managing vendor relationships, and supporting communication and collaboration tools to facilitate efficient business operations.”
Overseen by Mike Howarth, Head of IM&T, and Ozomata Asun, Infrastructure Team Leader, the IM&T Department has recently been focused on improving technology to enhance operations and reduce expenditure. The department also includes Niall Priestley, Infrastructure Engineer, and Bailey Pike and Louie Haffner, Service Desk Engineers.
The team have recently published a five-year IM&T Strategy that aims to support the exceptional care provided to patients and their families. This strategy emphasises harnessing technology to work smarter, more efficiently, and securely, all in line with the objectives outlined in the overarching St Barnabas Organisational Strategy.
Every day, the team works collaboratively to support St Barnabas in delivering exceptional care, ensuring that every team member feels valued and integral. Recognising the importance of collaboration, the IM&T team builds strong connections across departments to meet the diverse needs of the Hospice.
Aiming high, they continually enhance our technological capabilities and set high standards in all projects to support the Hospice’s mission.
Chris continues: “We enjoy working for St Barnabas because of the meaningful impact we have on our community. The shared dedication creates a strong sense of unity and purpose among us.
“It’s inspiring to be part of an organisation where everyone is committed to making a difference and where we are not just numbers, but vital contributors to our shared goals.”
Thank you to the IM&T team – we’re incredibly grateful for everything you do and appreciate your commitment.
Celebrating Chloe and Jo from St Barnabas on achieving their CMI Level 5 in Management and Leadership
St Barnabas Hospice is celebrating Chloe Pearson, Welfare and Benefits Manager, and Jo White, Counselling Service Manager, for successfully achieving distinctions in the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 5 Certificate in Management and Leadership.
The programme is designed to enable managers to lead individuals and teams in delivering aims and objectives in line with organisational strategy. Over 15 months, Chloe and Jo completed modules covering topics such as planning and managing projects, managing change, managing finance, and identifying new approaches to business activities.
At the beginning of the course, Chloe and Jo completed a 360-feedback exercise, gathering feedback from various peers, such as line reports and line managers.
Jo says: “I was out when the email popped up, and I drove home feeling sick before I would open it! It was a turning point for me. It made me realise that how my team saw me was very different to how I saw myself and that I needed to build my own confidence.”
Recognising the skills they’ve developed, Jo says: “Learning to lead as well as manage was really important – they are two very different things. I had to learn to have the confidence in myself and my own skillset, in order to lead my team effectively.”
Chloe adds: “You can manage people and a team, but you need to lead so they follow your leadership and trust in you. I feel like this course has completely changed me as a leader. Thinking back on everything we’ve learnt, it’s made me approach situations very differently.
“A real learning curve for me was catching myself from suppressing my team. I want them to grow and learn their own skills. I’ve learnt to not take everything on myself, and I’m delegating so much more than I ever have and it’s helping my team feel more empowered.”
Jo comments: “One of the biggest things for me was understanding different learning styles – starting with my own and then applying that to how I support others, making sure I am inclusive in the way I share information and communicate.”
Chloe agrees: “Every single one of my direct reports learns differently, so you need to communicate with them differently.
“We also had to learn how to say no and make sure our diaries were up to date – we had to plan really well to do the course alongside our jobs, and that’s another skill we can take away.”
Mandy Irons, Head of Wellbeing Services, says: “A huge well done and congratulations to Chloe and Jo. It was a pleasure to present them with flowers alongside Rebecca Franks to mark the occasion. They’ve both worked so hard over the last 15 months to get this achievement, and it’s so well deserved.”
Reflecting on their experience, Chloe says: “It was well worth it. We’ve learnt so much and I would advise people to go on the course. It’s not just benefited us, but also our teams and it’s made us better leaders, which helps St Barnabas.
It’s not just about getting extra qualifications – it’s about becoming better leaders. We now feel more confident, we can delegate, bring fresh ideas and new ways of working.”
Jo adds: “Don’t overthink it, just go for it! If you get the opportunity, do it, because it’s well worth the journey.”
CMI is a professional body – and the only chartered body – for management and leadership. Completing a CMI qualification offers Chloe and Jo more than just academic standing, they now have access to CMI Membership.
A huge congratulations to Chloe and Jo from everyone at St Barnabas Hospice!
Important Boston update: Temporary pause of groups held at Centenary Church, Black Sluice, and Swineshead
Due to sudden funding cuts, we have had to make the unavoidable decision to temporarily pause a small number of our wellbeing groups held in Centenary Church, Black Sluice, and Swineshead, Boston.
As of 23rd April 2025, the following groups will be paused or on hold.
Groups paused from 23 April – 12 May 2025:
• Art and Craft Group (Mondays) – Centenary Church
Groups on hold from 23 April 2025 (until further notice):
• Dungeons & Dragons (Mondays) – Centenary Church
• Art and Craft Group (Thursdays) – Black Sluice
• Art and Craft Group (Tuesdays) – Swineshead
We understand how important these sessions are to you, so we are actively seeking new funding opportunities. We hope to resume these groups as soon as possible.
The BEAM café will still be operating at Centenary Church and all other wellbeing groups at Novak House will continue as scheduled – we encourage you to attend and stay connected with the community. The St Barnabas Wellbeing Centre in Boston, known as Novak House, offers many groups and activities that are free to attend:
• Secondary Breast Cancer Support Group: 12pm – 2pm, second Monday of every month
• Creative Wellbeing Group: 10am – 12pm, every Tuesday
• Bereavement Support Group: 1pm – 3pm, first and third Tuesday of the month
• Drop In Coffee Morning: 10am – 12pm, every Wednesday
• MND Support Group: 11am – 12.30pm, fourth Thursday of the month
• Knit & Natter Group: 10am – 12pm, every Friday
Take a look to see what’s available at the Centre: Boston Wellbeing Centre – St Barnabas Hospice
If you have any questions or would like to talk about alternative support during this time, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Rob Whiley, Community Connector at St Barnabas Hospice.
St Barnabas’ response to upcoming changes to the Palliative Care Coordination Centre
Following a consultation period regarding the changes to the Palliative Care Coordination Centre (PCCC), we can confirm that the function currently managed by St Barnabas will end on Monday 31st March 2025. From 1st April, this service will be delivered by Lincolnshire Community Health Services and Continuing Healthcare (CHC).
On behalf of the executive board at St Barnabas, we would like to convey our deepest gratitude to the valued PCCC Team who, sadly, are being made redundant due to these external changes.
The changes to the PCCC are in line with the launch of the Lincolnshire system wide Palliative and End of Life Care strategy. As part of this strategy, the Integrated Care Board (ICB) has made the decision to streamline the commissioning of certain services across the healthcare system.
While these redundancies are driven by external factors beyond our control, we want to take this opportunity to thank the affected staff members for their outstanding service and contribution to the PCCC and St Barnabas.
All team members have been involved in the consultation process, and despite the difficult news, have remained phenomenally dedicated and gracious throughout this period of change.
This decision is not a reflection of the effort or value of these team members, who have thoughtfully worked up to the last moment, considering patients and their families and continuing to deliver compassionate, patient-centred care.
We are incredibly grateful for their hard work, exceptional commitment, and flexibility during difficult times, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team should be extremely proud of how they have held St Barnabas’ values close to their hearts and for the care and support they’ve delivered during their time here.
Please join us in recognising their valuable contributions and wishing them success in their new positions in the healthcare sector.
Rebecca Franks, Director of Patient Care, and Julie Bishop, Clinical Lead Nurse (PCCC)
St Barnabas Hospice shortlisted as a finalist for three Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards 2025
St Barnabas is delighted to announce that they’ve been nominated for three awards at the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards 2025, recognising and celebrating their outstanding achievement in the legacy sector.
The three nominations are for Internal Collaborations Champion, Best Free Will Service, and Best Start Up Legacy Programme.
Ellie Carter, Legacy and In Memory Manager at St Barnabas, says: “The internal collaboration between our Fundraising, and Welfare and Benefits Teams has been pivotal to our Legacy strategy, so it’s fantastic to recognise the amazing work they’ve done in ensuring everyone knows about our Will services.”
This internal partnership enhances the outreach regarding Legacy Giving and reinforces St Barnabas’ vision of dignity, compassion, and choice at the end of life.
Ellie adds: “Our efforts have been greatly supported by a dynamic and forward-thinking ambassador in the Welfare and Benefits Team – thank you, Chloe Pearson!”
The Best Free Will Service nomination recognises the free services St Barnabas provides for people wishing to write, amend, or seek advice about their Will.
This initiative not only supports their mission of delivering compassionate end-of-life care to those facing life-limiting illnesses but also helps generate vital income through Legacy Giving.
St Barnabas Hospice are also proud to be nominated for the Best Start Up Legacy Programme.
Ellie comments: “Over 18 months ago, we had no Legacy campaign or materials, despite it being one of our largest income streams. We partnered with Catsnake, the Legacy Giving experts, to create a fully comprehensive strategy.
Since then, we have built internal engagement, developed free Will offerings, conducted staff training, and created impactful marketing campaigns.”
Being shortlisted for Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards provides St Barnabas with an independent validation of their hard work and commitment to Legacy Giving.
The award entries were reviewed and assessed by a judging panel that includes some of the biggest names in Legacy Giving from across the sector. To be shortlisted as a finalist for these awards, despite tough competition from a pool of brilliant applications, is a mark of real achievement for St Barnabas.
The nominations are based on matching the criteria for Ambition, Excellence, Achievement and attributing scores against a transparent system aimed at recognising and rewarding inspirational Legacy teams and individuals.
Polly Avgherinos, CEO, MiExact, says: “We’re thrilled to congratulate St Barnabas Hospice on being recognised as a finalist in three categories at the upcoming Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards.
“We look forward to welcoming them to the ceremony in April, where we will gather to honour and celebrate the outstanding talent, dedication, and passion of those making significant contributions to the Legacy sector.”
The winners will be selected following a rigorous judging stage ahead of the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards ceremony.
The selected winners will then be announced during a private ceremony at Hilton Bankside, London, on 24th April 2025.
To find out more about leaving a gift in your Will, or to sign up for one of St Barnabas’ Free Will Cafes, please visit: https://stbarnabashospice.co.uk/legacy/
Introducing Charlie Thompson, St Barnabas’ new Director of Income Generation!
Charlie Thompson joins the Hospice as Director of Income Generation. The departments that fall under this umbrella include Retail, Fundraising, Lottery and Marketing – together they have the responsibility of generating over £7 million of funding, each year, to support the Hospice.
Before joining St Barnabas Hospice, she worked in income generation, marketing, and fundraising roles within the charity sector, including at LIVES, BlindAid, Bransby Horses, and Age UK. She brings vast experience in leading teams in fundraising, marketing, and supporter engagement, ensuring charities maximise their income streams while creating meaningful donor relationships.
Charlie says: “I’m thrilled to be joining such a well-respected hospice that plays a vital role in communities across Lincolnshire. St Barnabas has a fantastic supporter base and strong foundations in fundraising and retail, and I’m excited to support building that success.
Most importantly, I’m looking forward to working with an incredible team to ensure we can continue providing exceptional care to those who need it most.”
In her first few months, and over the next year, Charlie will be overseeing a full review of our current CRM system, reviewing an in-depth Gift Aid audit, supporting the marketing team in launching a new website, and laying the groundwork to significantly increase our regular giving base, securing a sustainable income stream for the Hospice.
Outside of work, Charlie enjoys running, reading, spending time with family, and travelling. She’s also passionate about income generation within non-profits and sits as a trustee for FareShare Midlands and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising Board.
The Executive Management team are responsible for each of the departments within the Hospice. Meet the St Barnabas Team here: https://stbarnabashospice.co.uk/about-us/meet-our-team/
St Barnabas’ response to government Hospice funding
The government has recently confirmed the release of £25 million, ringfenced for essential upgrades and refurbishments to hospices across England. As part of this, St Barnabas Hospice will be receiving £236,601 in the 2024/25 financial year.
This capital will support IMT projects and essential refurbishment plans to modernise a number of buildings. Allowing us to invest in our infrastructure, the funding ensures patients and their loved ones receive the highest quality care in the most comfortable settings.
We are pleased to see Hospice care receiving attention and support, and the government investing in hospices to improve facilities for patients.
This is a positive first step and encouraging to receive, however, these monies do not specifically support the delivery of vital services. We continue to face significant funding challenges that threaten our ability to provide essential palliative and end-of-life care to those in Lincolnshire and their families.
Without sufficient resources, hospices will be unable to meet the increasing demand for high-quality end-of-life care in the future.
The future of Hospice care depends on government action to ensure it is properly supported. We’re hopeful that this first step will inspire robust investment in our sector to ensure the long-term sustainability of Hospice services.
St Barnabas’ Welfare and Benefits Team partners with the Green Doctor to help Christopher save hundreds on his water bill
Christopher saved over £350 on his water bill, after St Barnabas referred him to the Green Doctor service.
Our Welfare and Benefits Team support patients from early in their diagnosis, helping to ease their concerns, as well as those of their families and carers. We can help discuss the benefits you may be entitled to, support with applying for benefits and grants, and provide information signposting.
Diane Bell, Welfare Benefits Advisor at St Barnabas, says: “We have been able to support Christopher with Attendance Allowance and a mandatory reconsideration, which he was very grateful for. We were also able to help with a blue badge for his car and referred him to the Green Doctor for further help with his energy bills.”
Green Doctors are trained energy efficiency experts who provide residents with advice and support in their own home, over the phone, or through workshop events.
Christopher says: “I was diagnosed with COPD some time ago. St Barnabas Hospice has been helping me and referred us to the Green Doctor for energy support and financial advice.
“Green Doctor Ben looked at our utility bills and immediately noticed that because of my condition, we are eligible for a 50% discount with Anglian Water. This has saved us £350 on our water bill, which is a massive help!”
Chloe Pearson, Welfare and Benefits Manager at St Barnabas, says: “We have been working collaboratively with Green Doctor since September last year. We make referrals to them to support patients with understanding and reducing their energy bills or if they need practical support with items like white goods.
“They also identify individuals that may need support from our team, so we work collaboratively to ensure they can access both services and receive full help. It’s brilliant that we can work together to support our patients and their families when they need it most.”
Chloe elaborates: “We can do joint home visits to support patients as well, ensuring we cover all the help they may need. Recently, we assisted a family by working together. Our Welfare and Benefits Team applied for grants and secured the benefits they were entitled to, while the Green Doctor helped with their energy bills, and arranged supermarket vouchers and a new fridge freezer.”
Between 2023-24, our Welfare Team received 4,971 referrals. If you’re living with a life-limiting or terminal illness in Lincolnshire, our Welfare and Benefits Team might be able to help you access the benefits or grants you are entitled to.
We are here to support in a variety of ways, including discussing the benefits you may be entitled to, supporting and completing application forms, and accessing grants or other support that may be needed.
Some benefits we support with include Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, and Housing Benefit.
We have our free Will service at St Barnabas and can signpost for power of attorney support. We are also available to discuss funeral support with funeral grants and bereavement support payments. As well as working with other organisations to identify equipment support, counselling, and asbestos-related conditions.