Giving outstanding end of life care at Dorothy House
Two senior promotions at Dorothy House will help continue and strengthen the work of the hospice. Wayne de Leeuw is promoted to the joint role of director of patient, family services and deputy chief executive of Dorothy House while Ruth Gretton is promoted to director of nursing. Wayne was previously executive clinical lead for community services at the hospice and Ruth’s prior role was executive clinical lead inpatient services at Dorothy House. The hospice provides free palliative and end of life care from early diagnosis onwards to patients, their families and carers across Bath and North East Somerset, Wiltshire and Somerset. Providing hospice services requires significant funds and for every £1 received from the NHS, Dorothy House need to raise a further £4. In his new role as lead director Wayne will ensure the integration of the hospice’s clinical and medical thinking, the development of services and the creation of new models of care to meet the rising demand for palliative care across the hospice’s region. As deputy chief executive, his role also reflects the wider impact and influence of his directorate. Ruth as the new director of nursing at Dorothy House will continue to drive the hospice’s ‘Outstanding’ Care Quality Commission (CQC) accreditation as well as assuming additional responsibilities for the professional development of all nursing and clinical facing departments. Dorothy House Hospice Care chief executive John Davies said: “These two new appointments recognise the outstanding quality of both Wayne and Ruth’s leadership and the strong performances of their teams in recent years. On behalf of the hospice, I congratulate them both on their well-deserved appointments and exciting new roles.” Wayne added: “This is both an exciting and challenging time to be working in hospice care. “The model that has sustained us over the past several years needs to be reviewed and new partnerships, alliances and financial contracts forged to ensure that people continue to receive outstanding end of life care and support. “Our new strategy, due to be launched in the autumn, provides the perfect platform for this work.”