Forum of Chairmen of Independent Hospices

The Forum, established in 1990, exists to bring together the Chairs of all charitable independent hospices to share  experience and information and to provide mutual support, which it does in a number of ways.

It holds a national daylong conference in alternate years (alternating with Help the Hospices biennial conferences) involving a range of speakers with plenty of time for networking. The conferences are open to trustees, volunteers and employees of voluntary hospices. The topics include governance in all its guises and issues relating to the independent hospice world generally, palliative and end of life care and ethical and policy matters.

In addition, meetings are held regularly in each of the Forum's regions. These cover a wide range of topics, and provide the opportunity for Chairs to discuss with their colleagues their problems and concerns, as well as sharing their various experiences. They are an excellent medium for those attending to discuss current issues, and receive feedback on national developments and matters of internal business. Members also find it valuable that the meetings are held at different hospices in each region, which allows them to see how others function and to network at a regional level.  A delegate from Help the Hospices will often be present. Increasingly the meetings are held alongside those of chief executives with further useful benefits arising from this interaction.

Other activities of the Forum include:

• publication of a newsletter, Forum News, annually which provides information about Forum activities and events, articles on policy issues relating to palliative care and governance, and news stories about individual hospices. This has recently been superseded by reports from the chair after executive meetings and the expectation now is that the written version will give way to regular updates on this website.

• publication of a directory of members

• production of good practice guidelines on managing the relationship between trustees and managers

• the Forum Chair and the other Committee members offer advice over the telephone to Chairs and Chief Executive Officers who are experiencing difficulties.

• the Forum represents the independent hospice trustees on a range of bodies, including the Advisory Council of Help the Hospices, its Governance Group and its Policy reference group.