The first internal appointment to the senior team in many years, Morven has been with Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) for almost seven years as Head of Volunteering; helping evolve ways of working and significantly improving volunteer engagement.
Morven was instrumental in establishing CHAS’s innovative virtual hospice service and revolutionised the way in which the charity delivers its services after assuming additional responsibilities in relation to culture, wellbeing and business planning. Morven also served as Chair of Glasgow Women’s Aid.
In her new role, Morven will be responsible for leading the new People and Strategy Directorate which comprises HR, Volunteering, Learning & Development and Strategy and Programme Development functions.
Speaking of her appointment, Morven said: “I’m delighted to be the new Director of People and Strategy at CHAS. It’s an exciting time for the charity as we develop our post-pandemic vision and expand our service for the future.
“Aligning our people agenda with our strategy is critical if we’re to realise our ambition of reaching ever child and family in Scotland who needs us. Having worked in CHAS as Head for Volunteering for the last seven years I know that our people are our most precious asset – motivated and passionate about what they do.
“I’m excited about building on the incredible work that’s gone before and mobilising our community of staff and volunteers behind our vision and cause.”
CHAS CEO, Rami Okasha, said: “We had a number of incredibly high quality and credible candidates applying for this role. Throughout the process, Morven’s vision, passion, energy and enthusiasm for CHAS was so clear. I know she will lead teams across CHAS with great skill and dedication.”
CHAS is determined to reach more of the 16,700 children and young people in Scotland who have a life-shortening condition. Currently the children’s hospice charity delivers integrated care across a variety of settings: in their two hospices, in hospital, at home and – since the pandemic started – virtually. In March 2020, CHAS launched the world’s first virtual children’s hospice and is continuing to prioritise end-of-life and emergency care in hospice and children’s homes as well as supporting the NHS and Scottish Government in their national effort.
This year, CHAS is celebrating a major milestone; 30 years of supporting children with life-shortening conditions, and their families across the whole of Scotland. The charity remains focused on their founding vision of reaching every dying child across the country by providing the highest-quality children’s palliative care and hospice services.
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About CHAS:
- Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) is on a mission to reach every family in Scotland that needs its care, providing hospice services nation-wide to babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions.
- CHAS offers palliative, respite and end-of-life care from Rachel House in Kinross,Robin House in Balloch, through CHAS at Home.
- Through its Diana Children’s Nurses and specialist children’s consultants working in hospitals acrossthe country, CHAS staff work alongside NHS colleagues to support families and clinical teams.
- We make sure that no matter how short family’s time together may be, it is filled with happiness and vitality. We keep the joy alive by helping families to celebrate the lives of their children while they are together, and to honour their memory when they are gone.
- CHAS recently commissioned research on children in Scotland requiring Palliative Care (ChiSP) 2 which shows up to-date information about the numbers and characteristics of babies, children and young people aged 0-21 who have life-shortening conditions. Across Scotland, 15,949 babies, children and young people have life-shortening conditions. Of these, 5,671 had contact with a hospital team in the preceding year.
- CHAS has 380 staff and 850 volunteers supporting children and families in every local authority area in Scotland.
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