Hospice runs full year without chief executive
Finally the search for new one . . . on £89k
The Ayrshire Hospice is at last trying to plug the gap at the top - after being without a vital chief executive for a year.
Mandy Yule quit last June just a month after we leaked a letter she wrote to staff asking for voluntary redundancies or reduced hours.
Three months later, the Ayrshire Post revealed the Ayr-based charity had advertised for a £70,000-a-year fundraising guru in a bid to raise £12 million.
Observers had been stunned by the level of that wage at a time when the Hospice was facing a £530,000 financial hole.
Now Yule is to be replaced at last . . . on a salary of up to £88,891.
The job advert says: “Having been without a CEO for the past year, the Board and senior management team have now set the vision for the future and are ready for a new CEO to be appointed to deliver all the organisational goals and drive the charity forward.
“A centrepiece of the strategy is a proposed £12m capital build programme to ensure the Hospice continues to provide the best possible patient experience in the best available facilities.”
The new supremo needs to secure “at least a further £6m” to redevelop the much cherished building on Racecourse Road.
The advert continues: “It goes without saying that your business and financial management acumen must be second to none.”
The closing date is next Wednesday, July 15.
The piano and violin playing Yule had been in the job for more than five years, succeeding Aileen Anderson.
Yule is now a director of a firm called Mayneline Services, though it was claimed she had “retired.”
John Corrigan, Hospice Chairman, defended the year’s gap without a leader and said everything was on course for a sustainable future.
John said: “When our former Chief Executive retired in 2019, we widely publicised our decision to defer recruiting to the post until this year while we determined the best leadership structure for the future of Ayrshire Hospice. “Recruitment is now live and as previously published in the Ayrshire Post, this is the final element of a senior management restructure that accounts for almost 20% of the savings achieved by our wider sustainability plan.
“That plan has ensured the Hospice can operate within its means while matching NHS level pay rises. This has provided confidence in our ability to retain and attract the highest quality staff.
“Delivering on that sustainability plan ensured the Hospice’s costs did not exceed income. Had we not done so, the gap between spend and income would have grown year on year, reaching over £500k after three years.
“Any suggestion that there was ever a financial ‘black hole’ is wrong. Our careful planning and responsible actions have ensured this was never the case.
“We look forward to appointing a new Chief Executive equipped to lead us into the future.
“Meantime, the Hospice Board extends its gratitude to our Executive Directors who have so willingly and seamlessly led us during this period of vacancy and the unprecedented implications of Covid19.
“Along with the remainder of our employed and voluntary staff, they have ensured Ayrshire Hospice has continued to ‘Make Today Matter’ for our patients with life limiting illnesses and for their families.”