Ann Lee Chief Executive Officer Expand Prior to being appointed as CEO in 2015, Ann joined St. Margaret’s sixteen years ago as Director of Nursing, becoming Clinical Director and Deputy CEO during her tenure. Over the years Ann has played a significant role in strategically expanding the charities clinical services; commissioning the second In-Patient Unit in Yeovil; expanding the community service; commissioning a respite care centre and more recently the Central Referral Centre (CRC) and 24 hour advice line culminating in re-engineering the whole service to deliver 24 hour care in the community. Ann is passionate about delivering responsive, patient focused care across Somerset. In 2014 she arranged a Rod Stewart concert for 18,500 people raising a net profit of £150,000!Ann has over 33 years of clinical experience originally working in elderly care, neurological and surgical nursing. She then specialised in trauma, working in a variety of accident and emergency units in London. In 1989 Ann was appointed at Surrey University as a Director of Post Graduate Education at the European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, focusing on Critical Care services and gained a B.Ed (Hons) at Sussex University. Prior to joining St. Margaret’s she was appointed as Assistant Director of Nursing and Clinical Governance, responsible for managing the Specialist Palliative Care services at Frimley Park NHS Trust and completed her Masters in Health and Medical Sciences at Brighton University.
Jennifer Board Chairman, Board of Trustees Expand Appointed Chairman of the Board at the end of 2015, Jennifer is a widely experienced international Human Resources professional with over thirty years’ insight into a variety of industries. She has held board positions and led large global and regional teams for many years. She has considerable experience in leading the human capital aspects of acquisitions, divestitures, restructuring and major change initiatives, working directly with top business leaders. She is a former Fellow of the Institute of Directors, a former Honorary Fellow of the Centre for Leadership Studies at Exeter University Business School, and a highly experienced Executive Coach.
1982 - 1988 Expand 1982; In June, the first nursing officer, Miss June Fenn, began working for St. Margaret’s. Home Care was launched in Taunton during December, covering a radius of 3 miles. 1983; In February, the Frank Bond estate generously donated land to the Charity and in August of that year planning permission was granted and an appeals committee was established, tasked with raising the £1.6m needed for an In-Patient Unit in Taunton. 1987; After four years of fundraising, championed by 'The Friends Association', the 16-bed In-Patient Unit in Bishops Hull, Taunton opened in June. This provided companionship, friendship, support and access to medical services for the terminally ill. In October of the same year the first shop also opened at 60 Bridge Street, Taunton. The name St. Margaret's was chosen because of the link with continuing care that had been provided by the old hospital and leper colony in Hamilton Road, Taunton since 1160. It was named after the patron saint, St. Margaret of Antioch. 1988; The Day Care Centre opened in Taunton to the first 2 patients, for 2 days a week.
1980 Expand Within a year of a dynamic and encouraging presentation by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1979, St. Margaret's Somerset Hospice Limited was registered as a Charity on 7 January 1980. Significant fundraising activities and events sprung up in aid of the hospice and numerous presentations were given to raise awareness of the need to build an In-patient Unit and Day Care Centre for Somerset.
Patrick Colton Trustee Expand Pat is Head of Commercial Development (Europe) at Clarks. He is responsible for leading and managing the Franchise Business Unit in the UK & ROI through retail chains and online. He has extensive knowledge and experience of sales operations across distribution channels. Pat is a keen traveller, with special interest in South Africa, alongside a variety of other leisure interests, including tennis, running and swimming.
John Martin Trustee Expand John trained in Pharmacy in Brighton from 1973 to 1976 where he graduated with a Pharmacy Degree (BSc). He registered as a qualified Pharmacist in 1977, attained an MSc in Clinical Pharmacy at Manchester University in 1981, then an MBA at Nottingham Trent University in 1994. Until April 2014, John was Chief Pharmacist at Yeovil District Hospital, having worked in several hospitals across the UK.
Tom Samuel Trustee Expand Tom is the Managing Director of Harmonic, a locally based services company which he founded in 2003. His expertise is in growing business through development and execution of a coherent strategy. He is passionate about the wider community benefits which are generated by successful businesses.
Kevin Jones Company Secretary Expand Kevin Jones is a partner at national law firm Clarke Willmott and head of their Bristol office. Kevin specialises in employment law and advises organisations not only in the South West but also across the country. Kevin is also a Trustee for the Bristol Rugby Community Foundation and the Gloucestershire Cricket Trust.
Jonathan Langdon Trustee Expand Jonathan is Chairman and Founding Partner of Milsted Langdon Chartered Accountants. Outside of work, he is a governor at Richard Huish Sixth Form College and a director of Passion for Somerset. He is married with 3 grown up children and, as often as work permits, enjoys getting back to Cornwall, where he spent the first 19 years of his life.
Deborah Stalker Trustee Expand Dr Deborah Stalker is a Consultant Paediatrician at Musgrove Park Hospital Taunton. She is the Trust Lead for safeguarding children and also leads the appraisal system for medical staff. She is the Designated Doctor for Safeguarding Children for Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group. She trained in Manchester and completed GP training before going on to train in paediatrics in the South West.
Sabina Goodman Finance Director Expand Sabina has over 25 years’ experience in Finance and Commercial Director roles, in both the private and third sector. She is driven by achieving growth, often utilising best practice from the private sector within third sector environments. Her experience comes from both senior management and board appointments in a variety of industries, as well as consultancy work with communities, charities and social enterprises. She has recently completed an MBA and was awarded a Distinction from Warwick University. Sabina is committed to working with organisations that have a high level of social/environmental impact and as well as recently joining St Margaret’s, Sabina currently holds Directorships with Lemon Gazelle Community Interest Company, Jigsaw Thornbury CIC and is a Non-Executive Director with Real Ideas Organisation. These organisations are small and entrepreneurial, contributing high levels of social impact, whether by assisting communities, supporting families and children with additional needs or enabling community groups to achieve their aspirations. Sabina is also the Treasurer and Welfare Officer of Chagford Youth Football Club.
Robert Parsons Director of Retail Expand Robert has joined St. Margaret’s Hospice in January 2016 to support the growth of its income generating capacity, enabling sustainable future income streams to support its charitable work. Over the past 15 years Robert has led numerous teams, generating in excess of £30million for charitable organisations, utilising creative approaches whilst widening markets to drive new streams of income. The hospice sector is not new to Robert who, before joining St. Margaret’s, was the Director of Income Generation and Communications for St Luke’s Hospice in Plymouth for 8 and a half years. Previous to this he worked as a CEO in sexual health promotion in the South West. Much of his management background was built in the commercial sector working with national retailers including Debenhams PLC, as well as holding various senior positions including sales, infrastructure and concept store design at a regional level.
Nick Middleton IT Director Expand After joining St. Margaret's Hospice in 2005 as the IT Manager, he then went on to oversee the delivery of several key projects including the organisation’s change to a full multi-disciplinary electronic patient record. During this time Nick has also delivered IT consultancy services to several hospices within the South West including Hospiscare, Weldmar, Weston and The Children’s Hospice SouthWest. In May 2015, Nick was appointed as the Director of IT Services to ensure St. Margaret’s can continue to find innovative ways to reach more people, whilst identifying new ways that technology can be used to improve income generation, and deliver better integrated care.
Joy Milliken Clinical Director Expand A Registered Nurse since 1990, with a BA (Hons) in Management and Business Studies and MSc in Nursing, Joy has worked predominately in oncology and palliative care for 25 years, across a number of health systems. She has worked at a senior level in different organisations and has been operationally and strategically involved in planning and commissioning new services. She has led on generic projects including nurse education and workforce planning, and within and across organisational boundaries in the voluntary sector, private sector, acute Trusts, and cancer networks.Joy’s career has included roles in teaching hospitals, district general hospitals, private and charitable sectors, covering wards with both affluence and social deprivation in Northern Ireland, London, New Zealand and more locally in Somerset.Joy has worked for St. Margaret’s Hospice for 5 years, appointed initially as Head of Nursing and Patient Services for the West of the County and most recently as Clinical Director. She strongly believes that patients and families must remain at the heart of what we do and that her work in different environments, understanding the challenges facing every part of the health care sector, has helped to prepare her for this role.Married with two teenage boys, she and her family love the Somerset countryside and exploring the South West as a whole.
Hilary McKegney Director of Governance Expand Hilary trained at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London from 1979-1982. Post–registration she specialised in renal nursing before getting married and moving to Taunton. She worked in a school for physically disabled children for four years and then lived in a boarding school, supporting her husband to run a boarding house, mentoring and supporting 75 teenage boys as well as looking after her own 3 children. She completed a Return to Nursing course in 1995 and worked at Musgrove Park Hospital on an orthopaedic ward before joining St Margaret’s Hospice in 1998 as a registered nurse. She was appointed to a team leader position in 2002, Deputy Director in 2005 and Director of Governance in 2015. This entails co-ordinating and managing complaints, incidents and accidents, safeguarding and all aspects of clinical governance.Hilary is the link with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as Registered Manager and has led on two 100% compliant inspections in January and February 2014. She has a BSc (1st class honours) in Health Studies and Diploma in Management Studies.
2014 - 2015 Expand 2014; Two independent living suites to support patient discharges using funds from the Department of Health were opened, known as the Taunton and Yeovil Sunflower Suites. In June St. Margaret’s Hospice holds it's first major fundraising concert under the banner of Somerset Rocks, where Rod Stewart performed at the Somerset County Cricket Ground in front of 18,500 spectators. The event was a huge success and raised £150,000 for St. Margaret’s Hospice. 2015; In the face of a growing elderly population and funding constraints, St. Margaret’s Hospice takes a proactive approach to the future provision of end of life care and launches a ground breaking community review, called ‘Fit for Future’.
2009 - 2011 Expand 2009; At the start of the year, we officially opened the new wing and Day Care Centre at the Taunton hospice.2010; Quantock House, funded jointly at the time with NHS Somerset, was opened for business. It operated as a respite centre for 8 years before being decommissioned in September 2018. Our 5 year strategy to further build direct community support through the 'Hospice without Walls' strategy was also launched with the aim to be a 24/7 service. This coincided with the launch of the Central Referral Centre offering direct advice to patients and carers, day and night; allowing referrals to all services with just one call. 2011; Day Care Centre services were re-designed and re-branded, becoming 'Sunflower Centres', a service that offers a great deal more variety and choice for patients and their carers including symptom control, respite care and support for those experiencing social isolation.
2005 - 2008 Expand 2005; St. Margaret’s Hospice celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a Wine & Cheese Party, re-enacting the very first fundraising event back in 1980. We also launched our appeal to extend and refurbish the In-Patient Unit and Day Care Centre in Taunton.2006; Somerset Cancer Care, a small but significant charity, merged with St. Margaret's Hospice allowing us for the first time to broaden the scope of our work with those facing a life-limiting illness. This is included a number of drop-in patient support groups for those affected by cancer across the county. 2008; A programme of re-branding and updating of our high street retail shops began. We also took another leap forward by carrying out a full review of our catering services and Day Care Centre facilities, and are now offering individualised freshly cooked quality meals at any time of the day, or night. This is available to family and friends, as well as to the patients themselves.
1994 - 2004 Expand 1994; The Education & Training Centre opened in Taunton to offer education and professional development to St. Margaret's staff and other health care professionals across Somerset and neighbouring counties. 2001; The need was identified to provide a greater equity of provision for specialist palliative care in the East of the county. A fundraising effort was therefore, once again, resurrected and an appeals committee formed in order to raise £4.5 million to build a second In-Patient Unit in Yeovil. 2003; After two years of fundraising, an additional 16-bed In-Patient Unit and Day Care Centre in Yeovil was completed in December and officially opened by Princess Alexandra the following year. The unit was fitted with the most up-to-date specialist facilities and equipment, providing spacious homely and comfortable yet private care, designed to meet the needs of patients and their carers. 2004; A Bereavement Liaison Officer was recruited to provide a lead for bereavement care. The team, most of which are volunteers, now has 27 members staff. However the biggest growth in our services over the years has been within the community. This includes the services of Community Palliative Care Nurse Specialists, domiciliary visits by our clinicians and our “Hospice at Home” service which is provided in partnership with the NHS and Marie Curie Cancer Care. By now the In-Patient Unit in Taunton had become tired, lacked modern facilities and our service had long out-grown the space available.
Alison Grove Trustee Expand Alison has always had an interest in end of life care since working as an elective in India, which then became a special interest during her years as a GP. Alison moved from General Practice to specialise in palliative medicine, and ultimately she was based in Lichfield working with the local district general hospitals in the area. Alison’s final position before taking retirement was as a lead physician, and acting Medical Director at St Giles’ as well as visiting physician to Queens’ Hospital Burton on Trent.