Liz Searle, CEO of Keech Hospice Care, led the team that managed the merger between 2 hospice charities – Keech Hospice Careand Bedford Daycare Hospice.
Summary
- It had always been part of Keech Hospice Care’s strategy to work in partnership and they had been working closely with Bedford Daycare Hospice before the thought of a merger came about
- Eastside People won the contract to provide experienced consultancy resources to facilitate a charity merger implementation and due diligence process
- Experienced in charity merger project planning, guidance, and facilitation, Eastside People consultant John Gibbons was appointed to lead and manage the project
- After a thorough due diligence process, the project has been completed and the merger of the 2 highly respected charities was announced on 6th June 2023.
The Project
Bedford Daycare Hospice is an independent charity which provides holistic day care to adults in north and mid Bedfordshire living with a life-limiting condition. It has a physical hospice site in Linden Road, Bedford. Keech Hospice Care provides care for adults in Luton and south Bedfordshire, and children throughout Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes. Its hospice site is in Luton. Care is provided to patients in the hospice, their own homes, hospitals, schools and wherever support is needed the most.
Both hospices were already well-known for the outstanding quality of care they provide. The merged operation was announced on 6th June 2023, and has resulted in a successful merger between Keech Hospice Care and Bedford Daycare Hospice.
The main purposes of the merger where to sustain the future of Bedford Daycare Hospice and to ensure that more people can benefit from the range of services offered by both charities.
Eastside People won the contract to provide experienced consultancy resources to facilitate a charity merger implementation and due diligence process.
The Solution
Experienced in merger project planning, guidance, and facilitation, Eastside People consultant John Gibbons was appointed to lead and manage the project including:
- Managing client relationships and delivery of Eastside People’s services
- Ensuring the project delivered upon its objectives including high quality outputs, sticking to the timetable, managing and meeting milestones and within budget
- Managing communications including identifying any problems and highlighting successes.
A lot of hard work went into making the merger a reality. It wasn’t always an easy journey. Once both Board had agreed to merge, the organisations set up a Joint Steering Committee that met regularly. They also developed a Reasons to Believe document which was their guiding light through all the discussions. There was a clear project management process that aligned to all the Board meetings, with regular communications for all the key stakeholders.
There were sub plans for key elements and due diligence was completed to give a clear idea of which areas needed to be focused on. All mergers have their challenges, Liz said they kept coming back to the Reasons to Believe document to remind themselves why they were doing this and the difference they were hoping to make.
“Merging the two organisations means we can reach and support more patients throughout our community and attract and retain outstanding clinical professionals, staff and volunteers. Both hospices are already well-known for the outstanding quality of care they provide. The merger serves to strengthen and enhance our current range of services and our combined efforts will ensure even more people in our community benefit from them” said Liz.
Both hospice sites have remained open and in their current locations, and retail stores run by Bedford Daycare Hospice and Keech Hospice Care have continued to operate as normal.
Liz Searle is the overall CEO and the Keech Hospice board of trustees will comprise representatives across Keech Hospice Care and Bedford Daycare Hospice.
“One of the main reasons this merger came into being was due to how closely aligned the values of the two hospices are – with high quality patient care at the heart of both. There is great synergy also between our cultures and values, both known for their friendly and welcoming environments. These things will not change. The only change we will experience, which is a positive one, is that our services will grow and be available to more patients and families, where there are gaps. We will need the ongoing support of the community across Bedfordshire to ensure we can realise this ambition” added Liz.
6 months after the merger, she was pleased to report that everything was going well.
“There was a presentation by the staff in the former charity talking about the difference the merger had made to them… the care they could give to patients…It was so lovely to hear the difference it had made.
Now when I see services starting to expand in the local area… I feel great pride…It’s so exciting.” Liz Searle, CEO, Keech Hospice Care.
