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James' Journal

Welcome to James' Journal. Here you can read the latest journal posts from Sue Ryder's new Chief Executive, James Sanderson.

Sue Ryder CEO, James Sanderson, in front of a Sue Ryder sign

James shares regular journals for all staff and volunteers, updating everyone on what he is up to, his thoughts on different areas of Sue Ryder's work and more.

Make sure to check back weekly, so you don't miss any.

James' Journal number 9

Well, I don’t know about all of you, but I am definitely hoping for a drier week this week – I think I spent most of last week getting soaked walking to meetings and to the office.

It was good to spend time with Trustees last week and we had a lengthy discussion on Thursday about our long-term vision and strategy. We discussed opportunities for expanding our palliative services and how we could position the organisation in the future, in line with the vision that was developed last year.

Last week, we announced the sale of our Sue Ryder Neurological Care Centre Dee View Court in Aberdeen. I wanted to thank all the staff there for their understanding and the ongoing commitment that was demonstrated last week. Dee View has recently received a good rating by the care inspectorate in Scotland, reflecting the significant amount of hard work that colleagues there have been putting into the running of the centre.

You will all be aware that Sue Ryder decided to divest our neurological services last year in order to concentrate on palliative, end of life care and grief support. We will be working with the new owners over the next few months to carefully transfer Dee View Court, which will continue to support people facing significant neurological challenges.

It was great to be over at Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice last week for the Trustee meeting and see quite a few of the team over there. Thanks to Graham for the tour of the site and the newly refurbished patient rooms, which are looking really lovely.

Work is also drawing to a close at Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice and we will be ready for a phased re-opening of the inpatient unit again from today, subject to the necessary clinical checks required. Roof works will be continuing into October, but progress has been great, despite the challenge of the weather.

Lots of one-to-one discussions for me today including my weekly catch up session with Rima. I am looking forward to joining a few sessions for the Achieving Care Excellence (ACE) conference series this week as well. I am in London on Wednesday through to Friday and back to a fairly usual week this week after quite a lot of travel. On Friday I am having coffee with Andrew Richmond who is one of our Trustees, who was unable to make the strategy session in Cheltenham to bring him up to speed with the conversation we had. I am also meeting with the English Football League Trust about potential partnerships and catching up with members of our LGBTQ+ network.

I am excited to be rounding this week off with the Starlight Hike in the Thames Valley – hoping we have good weather for all our events around the country both this week and next week. Looking forward to joining with staff and volunteers for the evening.

Have a great week.

James

Read James' previous journal entry