We are pleased to announce Mary Stevens Hospice has appointed a new Chief Executive – Stevan Jackson joined the hospice this month with the task of driving forward hospice care services in a changing and financially challenging environment, which will make the generous support given by volunteers, our local community and the public even more important. Since 1983 Stevan’s career has involved designing, delivering, developing and monitoring health promotion, health protection and healthcare services to Armed Forces people and their families in a range of settings in the UK and worldwide. Experience of planning and delivering care from point-of-wounding, injury or sickness to high quality definitive care in the UK allows him a good understanding of the work of Mary Stevens Hospice. 
Stevan said “Mary Stevens Hospice has and will continue to serve this community with expertise, care and compassion and I am very proud to be leading such a dedicated team of staff and volunteers who deliver a  terrific service. My priority is to see that Mary Stevens Hospice provides a safe, healing environment, peopled by highly-skilled staff and volunteers who have time to listen, advise and create individually tailored programmes of complementary therapies as well as practical and emotional care designed to help reduce symptoms and side-effects of medical treatment for those under our care.”
Peter Holiday who stands down as Chief Executive 30th September said “Mary Stevens Hospice is enormously fortunate to have secured the services of Stevan Jackson as Chief Executive.  We went through a very thorough appointment process and had over 50 applications for the post.  Steve (as he is known) was the unanimous choice of the selection panel of trustees and myself. There is much to be done to ensure all parts of our community are offered the highest possible quality of end of life care and I am confident that Steve will lead Mary Stevens into expanding the Hospice's areas of care. It has been a great privilege for me to lead Mary Stevens Hospice for the last two years, during which we have restructured the group, our governance and our care models to make us fit to meet the demands of an ageing population.”


Background


Approximately two years ago the Board of Directors of the Hospice, with the full support of the Boards of the Trading & Lottery companies agreed to undertake a root and branch strategic review of the Mary Stevens Hospice group of companies. From this the decision was taken to recruit a part time Chief Executive Peter Holliday to design and implement the infrastructure required to deliver objectives, funding, and services to ensure the charities future success, with a view to expand the service and quality of care to patients in their own home and set up a project to see how this could be implemented and funded.
It has now become clear to Peter Holliday and the Boards that to drive Mary Stevens Hospice forward and ensure that we remain an innovative, patient focused organisation delivering high quality care a full time Chief executive was needed.
Mary Stevens Hospice has served the community for in excess of 25 years. The breadth and depth of end of life care services offered to the local community have increased and very high standards of care have been fostered and maintained over that time. The high standing of the Hospice in the local community is a tribute to the Trustees, Directors, staff and volunteers who had the vision and commitment to found Mary Stevens Hospice and have worked tirelessly to develop it into a service that is fit for the future.
The Boards of the three companies are confident that now Stevan is in place as the CEO and by building wider collaborations the Hospice will be stronger and better equipped to meet the challenges of a changing environment.