PILGRIMS HOSPICES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Expert Volunteer Development Lead
Annie's background is in nursing; in her current role as Expert Volunteer Development Lead, she works closely with clinical teams to develop volunteer roles alongside services for patients, carers and bereaved families and loved ones. She also oversees the introduction of new volunteer roles to support Pilgrims' services, to compliment the charity's volunteer workforce.
Annie is a facilitator for SAGE & THYME communication training and hosts Death Cafes, which both provide opportunities to engage with internal and external professionals and members of the public.
She is trained as a Mental Health First Aider.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Research Facilitator
As Research Facilitator, Charlotte supports current research projects, the development of new research and increasing awareness of research within Pilgrims.
She brings previous experience as an academic health services researcher and as a Research Adviser for the NIHR Research Design Service South East.
Her post is linked with CHSS at the University of Kent; as part of this, she facilitates a Kent and Medway Palliative Care Research Group.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Education and Training Administrator
Cody is an experienced and skilled front of house/bookings coordinator.
Qualifications: Safeguarding, First Aid, fire marshal
Job Titles:
- Medical Director
- Member of the Recent Team
- Medical Director & Consultant in Palliative Medicine
Andrew is Medical Director and a Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Pilgrims Hospices. He is the Research Lead at Pilgrims Hospices.
He is site principal investigator for national portfolio studies in the hospice and has a research interest in the area of palliative sedation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Peter studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital, London and trained as a surgeon before transferring into general practice and completing his studies in Canterbury and Ashford. He was a GP partner in Canterbury for 30 years, as well as being involved in education and training as a GP tutor in addition to being Chair and trustee of the Kent and Canterbury education charity CHEF.
Peter has always been interested in leadership and the business side of practice, and was co-founder and Chair of Invicta Health, a community interest not-for-profit health care provider for east Kent, set up to support primary care with larger projects. He retired from this role and all clinical work in January 2021.
Peter lives in Whitstable with his wife, Annie, and is a proud father of three sons. He has three grandchildren and enjoys golf, sailing and woodworking, as well as travel, particularly in France.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Consultant - Ashford
- Director of Medicine
Pia joined Pilgrims Hospices in November 2021 when she moved with her family, dogs, cat and chickens to rural Kent. She has worked for nearly 25 years in palliative care and has enjoyed clinical and strategic leadership roles for 16 years. Pia is particularly proud of the development of hospice-led community initiatives in East Hertfordshire.
Pia is passionate about helping people to live well until they die well and to offer a gold star hospice service to many, rather than a platinum service to few.
She joined the executive team at Pilgrims Hospices in April 2023 and looks forward to collaborative and strategic working with her colleagues in the Kent and Medway area.
Outside her work, Pia enjoys being creative with yarn and fabric and relaxes on long walks with her husband and their dogs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Elizabeth joined the Pilgrims Hospices Board of Trustees from the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, where she was a consultant surgeon specialising in breast and skin cancer patients. She is involved in medical education in East Kent and surgical training in the Kent Surrey and Sussex Deanery.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Recent Team
- NHS Director
Helen joined Pilgrims Hospices in 2011, supporting staff across the three sites and those working in the community. She worked at a corporate level to provide specialist HR and Workforce planning expertise.
Helen has had a varied career in HR in both public and private sectors. As an NHS Director, Helen was involved in the strategic review process that enabled the Community Trust to develop its long term business plan. This underpinned its successful bid to become a Community Foundation Trust.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Head of HR and Workforce
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Training Manager
Jeremy is experienced in delivering productivity, motivation, planning and time-keeping workshops. He also acts as facilitator for leadership support circles.
Qualifications: BSc (Hons) Business Administration, Mental Health First Aid, delivering adult training
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Jim has nearly 30 years' experience in the rail sector working in consultancy, central government and industry organisations in the UK and overseas.
His current role as Director, Rail Markets (South) at the Department for Transport requires strategic, financial, commercial, stakeholder and project-based capabilities, together with leadership and managerial responsibilities.
Jim lives in Canterbury, and in his spare time he enjoys golf, cycling, walking and travel.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Deputy CEO and Operations Director - Hospice Services
Jon joined Pilgrims Hospices in 2011 with more than 20 years experience in distribution and logistics in a variety of senior positions. He is responsible for a wide range of operational areas to support the patient and visitor experience including the Administration Hub, Health & Safety, Housekeeping, Catering and the maintenance of our hospice and retail buildings.
Job Titles:
- Therapies and Wellbeing Manager
Job Titles:
- Community Fundraising Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Karen is the founder and managing director of Learning4Action where she offers business performance coaching, mentoring and consultancy services, particularly in the not for profit sector.
She is a former Head of Executive Education at the ifs School of Finance (now the London Institute of Banking and Finance), the leading provider of banking and financial services qualifications. Her clients included most, if not all, of the major banks and financial institutions in the UK and internationally. During her time in this role, she was the driving force behind creating the ifs' Executive Education Masterclass programme that focused on bringing the leading experts in their field to hold topical workshops and development programmes with banking executives.
Karen has a proven track record in the methodology and experience of building and managing executive education and event management. She is also an expert in operating membership schemes, having run one over a number of years with upwards of 80,000 members and representing £2million in income and provides consultancy on how to make them more effective.
Karen is a member of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and an Associate Member of the Association for Coaching, holding the CMI's level 5 diploma in Management Coaching and Mentoring and their Diploma in Management Studies. In addition, she is Chair of Wye Heritage Centre.
This role covers the inpatient units, community nursing teams and Hospice at Home.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Quality and Education Lead
Prior to coming to Pilgrims Hospices, Katy worked in nursing for 23 years for the NHS.
Her background is predominantly in cancer and chemotherapy, as both a clinician, and training lead for East Kent.
She spent five years as an IV Access Specialist nurse, and was the Matron for the East Kent Hospitals, inpatient and outpatient chemotherapy services.
Qualifications: Dip (HE) in Adult Nursing, BSc (Hons) Professional Nursing Practice
Job Titles:
- Community Fundraising Manager
Job Titles:
- Community Fundraising Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
Lyn worked in critical care and palliative care nursing, both in clinical nurse specialist posts and various nursing leadership roles. She worked within a hospice environment for more than 10 years and now works with the Education team at Pilgrims.
Qualifications: RN, MSc Critical Care, BSc Hon Clinical Practice Development, Dip HE
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Director of Finance and IT
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Ruth retired as a medical doctor in December 2018 after qualifying at Glasgow University. Ruth has spent most of her working life in east Kent with almost 30 years working in the National Breast Screening programme dealing with the clinical and imaging aspects of breast problems. This included dealing with the diagnosis of breast cancer, in addition to the management of both treatment in the acute setting and subsequent effect of treatment / recurrence and associated comorbidity.
In addition Ruth has had 20 years' experience as a GP which has allowed her to develop good communication skills and knowledge of the multi-faceted impact of chronic illness.
Ruth is now a volunteer Guide at Canterbury Cathedral which she tells us she very much enjoys, along with walking, being a member of the Ramblers Association, Canterbury Fine Arts society and Canterbury Historical and Archeological society. Ruth has two grandchildren which we know she is always happy to babysit!
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Simon Perks worked in the NHS for 40 years, most recently leading the merger of the eight Clinical Commissioning Groups in Kent and Medway into a single organisation. He was previously Canterbury and Coastal and Ashford Clinical Commissioning Groups Accountable Officer, responsible for commissioning healthcare for the population of those communities.
Simon started his NHS career in 1980 training as a nurse at the Westminster Hospital. Moving into hospital general management in 1990, Simon worked in a number of hospitals London and Kent before moving into commissioning at NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent primary care trust in 2008. Simon has lived with his wife Gill in east Kent for 25 years and in retirement maintains a keen interest in how health and care organisations can better work together to improve patient care. Simon has been involved with voluntary sector organisations since his first job at Spitalfields Crypt Trust in 1979.
Job Titles:
- Head of Psychosocial, Wellbeing and Bereavement Services
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Stefano is the 6 th generation of the family business at Macknade, taking it from a partnership to a limited company in 2014. Stefano's family once farmed the land upon which Macknade's Faversham Food Hall is built and today leads the business and inspires a team of over 120 people to deliver emotive spaces & experience for everyone to enjoy. Stefano continues to focus on identifying opportunities for Macknade to grow and touch a wider portion of society, with social & environmental harmony at its core.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Stephanie Bates is a corporate lawyer with over 30 years' experience. She advises companies and businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to FTSE100, operating in a wide range of business sectors. Her many specialisms include corporate governance.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Trustee
Sue started her career working in media and advertising. After a decade, she moved to Channel 4 as Head of Business Development, responsible for sponsorship, UK programme rights sales and advertising. From here she moved into independent television production, eventually becoming CEO of a large group of production companies. She now works part time helping sector start-ups, grows flowers, walks her Westie and keeps bees.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Director of Income Generation and Marketing
Job Titles:
- Member of the Recent Team
- Senior Training and Education Administrator
Tara is experienced and skilled in customer service, logistics planning, site management, administration and hospitality.
Qualifications: Mental Health First Aid, Safeguarding Level 2
Job Titles:
- Director of Nursing
- Member of the Recent Team
- Director of Nursing and Care Services
- Registered Manager and Caldicott Guardian
Wendy became Director of Nursing and Care Services for Pilgrims Hospices in 2015. She is also the Registered Manager for each hospice and the organisation's Caldicott Guardian. She is responsible for the care delivered to patients in the three inpatient units, Pilgrims Therapy Centres, outpatient and community services.
Wendy has 24 years nursing experience predominantly in cancer and chemotherapy. She came to Pilgrims from East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust where she was the Head of Nursing for Specialist Services Division.