Here at Teesside Hospice, we’re celebrating National Trustees Week! We sat down with our Chair of Quality and Performance Committee, John Sheridan to talk about what being a trustee for the hospice means to him.

“My name’s John Sheridan, and I am one of the trustees on the board at Teesside Hospice. I’m a clinical trustee, with a background of being a senior nurse in palliative care, and I chair the Quality and Performance Committee.

I became a trustee at the hospice a few years ago, having been approached to see if it was something I was interested in undertaking. To be honest, I was really honoured to be asked to be a trustee.”

Just like John’s experience, becoming a trustee is an amazing way to give something back to a cause you care about. By supporting the hospice, you will be playing an integral role in the way the charity is run, ensuring it remains sustainable and financially viable.

“In some ways, it's one of the best things that you can do to be able to support the hospice, in providing expertise and support for your field of work. Being able to support the hospice, to support the people of Teesside who are palliative or maybe approaching the end of life, is something that's really dear to me and close to my heart.

We will all go through stages of our life where either our loved ones, our friends, or indeed ourselves, will experience palliative or end of life care. When we do it right, it’s probably one of the best things that we can do, and we get one chance to do it right. That’s why it’s so important to support the hospice as a trustee.”

For those people who feel that they may want to be a trustee, the one thing I would encourage people to do is to reach out to the hospice and see if it’s something that you might be interested in doing, and also how it could benefit the hospice. You may be working in a field or industry that would really benefit having your expertise on the board, I would just say give it a try.

There are opportunities for us to improve the care that people have around the last 12  months of their life. The earlier that we can support people to inform them of the services and support that's available, the more likely people are to plan that care and be able to undertake that in a compassionate way.”

Without support from trustees like John, we couldn’t do what we do to support those living with a life limiting illness in Teesside. If you think you’ve got a skillset that could benefit Teesside Hospice’s services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!