Irene is a graduate of the University of Glasgow and has an MBA from Strathclyde Business School. She joined the NHS as a graduate management trainee and spent over 25 years in NHS senior health service management roles before joining Strathcarron in 2006.
Within the period of her direction, the Hospice has significantly developed services and income to reflect the overall increase of 74% in patient referrals.
- Strathcarron’s Hospice at Home service, the first Hospice care service of its kind in Scotland, will celebrate 10 years later this year.
- Live your Life service replaced traditional Day Care services and now supports even more people across our local communities via a direct Support Line to the Hospice.
- The Lymphoedema service expanded to provide comprehensive support to all Lymphoedema patients in the NHS Forth Valley area.
- Creative Homecare, the Care at Home Social Enterprise Company, was established to generate income for the Hospice
- The Hospice has also been significantly refurbished and developed over 17 years, including a new extension, the Carron View Wing, buying land to create additional car parking and remodelling the front entrance to improve access for ambulance patients.
- Strathcarron Hospice is at the forefront of innovative Community Development work to activate and empower local communities to support local people with life limiting illness.
- Our fundraising, lottery and voluntary source income has increased by nearly 400% in the last 17 years
- Retaining 4 of our original 7 shops, we now have 12 shops in total as well as on line sales, creating more than 25 jobs and trebling our profit
Irene says:,
“In my time here, there has been an increasing trend towards looking after people in their own homes and the majority of Strathcarron Hospice’s patients will never enter the Hospice building. Across all parts of the Hospice, we have increased our staff to meet the challenges of the steady increase in patients seeking our support.”
“We are working hard to challenge perceptions of hospice care. We provide very specialist support not just in our Inpatient Unit but across the health system.
We now support as many people to die in their own homes as in the Hospice – and many hospice patients are discharged after symptom control – it’s not just a place to die. Wherever you are, we want to help you to have as good a death as possible.
We are passionate about patient centred care and understanding what matters to you – people still have goals they want to achieve and we need to listen and respond to this, and help them make the best of the time they have left.
People have amazing strengths and ability to contribute to their own health and wellbeing: we need to ensure our services are accessible at any stage of someone’s illness, delivering the right care in the right place at the right time by the right professional and person”.
We need to continue to increase awareness of Hospice care at every level of community and every stage of life and to be recognised as a hub where people can find out more about living with illness, caring for others, dying well and grieving well. For this, our website and social media channels are vital, telling the stories of staff, patients and families.
Irene added:
“It’s been a fantastic job but it’s had its moments! We never expected to face the challenge of keeping our services going during Covid.
We have also had some big financial pressures as our NHS funding has not kept pace with the increased activity over the years. We have seen several periods of economic austerity and still our supporters have bailed us out.
The support of the communities we serve and many individuals who are often unsung heroes has been humbling – and vital. Without all our volunteers and supporters, we would not be here!
My role has been made so much easier by the quality and passion of our staff across the whole organisation. This is a team effort. Their enthusiasm, professionalism, compassion and drive for excellence makes us so special. I have also had some fantastic support from all the various Council of Management members over the years – these are volunteers who give up their time to make sure we are well run with a clear strategy.
But mostly we are here because of every one of our supporters – so THANK YOU”!
A new CEO will be in place over the summer.
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