St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester has appointed a new Care Director with a wealth of experience working with palliative care services.
Debbie Westwood joined St Richard’s in 2017 as Head of Education following her role as Head of Service Redesign for the Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Groups.
A nurse for 25 years, Mrs Westwood said, “My passion was for improving patient experience at the end of life and through my commissioning role I had worked with St Richard’s for a number of years so understood the strong values of care, compassion, commitment and professionalism.”
She added, “I loved working for St Richard’s as Head of Education and witnessing first-hand what the charity offers to patients. It was an honour to be successful in achieving the Care Director role and I’m eager to build upon the fantastic work of my predecessors.”
“It’s an exciting time to be Care Director of such a well-respected organisation. I’m particularly looking forward to leading the clinical teams to make the most of the new extended and redeveloped hospice when the Build 2020 project is finished to help more patients and families.”
St Richard’s Hospice cares for adults with a serious progressive illness, improving their quality of life from diagnosis, during treatment and to their last days. It also supports their loved ones. Each year the hospice team supports more than 3,300 patients, family members and bereaved people in Worcestershire.
St Richard’s is an independent charity and relies on donations for three quarters of its annual £8.8m income with the remainder from the NHS.
The hospice is also raising funds for the Build 2020 Appeal and is part way through developing a bigger hospice, enabling more patients and families to be cared for in Worcestershire. The total cost for expanding and redeveloping the existing building in Wildwood Drive, Worcester, is £5.3m.
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