Ardgowan Hospice chief executive speaks about her vital role

The 57-year-old, who has been the chief executive for nearly two years, says she is passionate about every aspect of her job — from chatting to patients, staff and volunteers to writing thank-you letters to thousands of fundraisers who go that extra mile.

Anne, pictured right, told the Tele: “I’m very passionate, which is why I’m doing this job.

“I’m responsible for leading the organisation on a daily basis to make sure that all the support and procedures are in place to achieve expertise in patient care and to ensure that everyone who engages with us has a good experience.

“It can be challenging being the person responsible for the organisation but I love the fact that this job is a culmination of all my previous jobs, which is great because I can take a facet of my previous experience and hone it in and make it valuable for this post.” Each and every day, Anne — who was most recently a policy leader in end of life care for the Department of Health in Northern Ireland — takes time to visit patients in the day unit and the in-patient unit.

She said: “I like to see how the patients are getting on, as most people like to have a wee chat.

“I’ll also pop into the cafe and speak to the visitors and chat to the volunteers as I like to thank them for what they do at every opportunity.

“Equally, with the staff I try to pop in and speak to them before I go home, even just to say ‘how’s things, who’s on tonight?’ “I like to set an example from the top down and treat people as I would like to be treated myself.” With the nature of her job, Anne admits it can be tough at times but she is comforted by the fact that the patients receive the highest quality of care at the end of their life.

She said: “One lady who passed away recently really touched me.

“She used to chap on my window and wave.

“I think she reminded me of one of my relatives.

“There are sad times but you have to draw on your reserves as our job is all about giving people the very best experience at the end of their life.” Anne personally knows how important hospice care is, as her brother Thomas, who was 60, sadly passed away in the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank after a battle against lung cancer.

Anne said: “The staff looked after him wonderfully.

“I knew that my brother would be looked after like the way we look after patients and that gave me a feeling of contentment.” A big part of Anne’s job is personally writing to all the fundraisers.

She said: “I spend a lot of my days writing letters as I think it’s important that I personalise as many letters as I can.

“Whether its 50p someone has raised or £500,000 I like to write to them personally to thank them.

“I also like to invite the young people up to the hospice — I think it’s important to make time to engage with young people and let them know how wonderful they are for fundraising.

“I previously worked as a children’s nurse so I miss being around children, especially as my sons are all working away just now.” When Anne is not working, she divides her time between Greenock and Belfast, where her husband Ken works as a professor of haematology at Queen’s University Belfast.

The couple have three grown up sons — Calum, 29, who is out in Kenya with the Army, Euan, 26, who is a doctor in New Zealand, and Finlay, 25, who works in events in Manchester.

Anne said: “Ken’s very supportive and he recently came to the Friends of Ardgowan Coffee morning, which was a fantastic event.” To keep up-to-date with Ardgowan Hospice visit the website www.ardgowanhospice.org.uk or go to the Facebook page.