The Board meets regularly throughout the year to set and review strategies, policies, budgets, plans and performance. Committees support plans by providing expertise and focus on key strategic areas. Members of the Hospice’s Senior Leadership Team provide reports for both Board and Committee meetings and attend and take part in the discussion.
How the Board works
Our latest Trustees' Annual Report provides more detail on how we have improved our care and support, and our progress against our strategic goals.
The Committees
Each committee follows written terms which set out its procedures and responsibilities. These terms also identify areas where the committee can make decisions without consulting the Board.
Committee terms are agreed by the Board and reviewed annually.
The committees are made up of Trustees and other individuals chosen as committee members.
Members of the Senior Leadership Team will also attend committee meetings relevant to them. Each committee’s chair reports back to the Board on the major issues discussed by the committee since the last Board meeting. They also report on any decisions made as well as relevant decisions that need to be made by the Board. Minutes of committee meetings are circulated to the Board.
The Board defines and reviews which matters are its own responsibility, which matters can be delegated to its committees and which management and operational matters can be delegated to the Chief Executive.
The Board then allows the Chief Executive to sub-delegate these matters to members of the Senior Leadership Team and other staff.
Our Chair, Sally Harris
Sally was appointed as Chair of Princess Alice Hospice in October 2024 and brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to the role of Chair.
She began her career in retail finance and worked with the Arcadia Group for 13 years, where she became Finance Director for brands within the organisation, before moving to Marks & Spencer in 2012. Following the birth of her daughter, Sally re-trained as an executive coach. Alongside her career, Sally started as a trustee and co-chair for the Fertility Network, before becoming a trustee for RNID, where she has been part of their transformational strategy that’s seen them move from providing care homes to focusing on social change. Sally also brings her passion for fashion to a trustee role at the Fashion Retail Academy.
Nigel Seymour, Chief Executive
Nigel’s passion for charity started at university when he chaired the Raising and Giving (RAG) committee. 23 years later he has worked for national and international disability and health charities, developing and leading income generation and marketing programmes. He joined the Hospice as Fundraising Director in 2007, before becoming the Deputy Chief Executive leading on change delivery for the charity, as well as its digital transformation. After Nicki Shaw stepped down in December 2023, Nigel took on the interim role of Acting Chief Executive. He was appointed Chief Executive of Princess Alice Hospice in March 2024.
Outside of work Nigel enjoys learning more about social issues affecting communities and society in general, especially around health, education, work and skills. Nigel lives in Richmond with his husband and twin boys.
Our statements
-
We recognise that we are accountable to our beneficiaries, supporters, volunteers, employees and the public and are committed to raising transparency and accountability. We have a duty to deliver our services effectively and maximise use of our resources and to do this we need to attract and retain suitably qualified people with the right skills, knowledge and experience.
Because we deliver healthcare services to NHS patients we are commissioned by the NHS and have to abide by the same regulatory framework. We are registered with the CQC and subject to their inspection regime and as our regulators they require that the Hospice is run by suitably qualified professionals. We directly employ medical consultants, doctors, nurses and other allied professional healthcare staff who are paid at a rate equivalent to the relevant national scale for their profession.
For the remainder of our roles when setting salaries we take into account the knowledge, skills, experience and effort needed for the job and market forces affecting recruitment. We benchmark against available information such as comparable roles being advertised locally and charity salary surveys. We take part in salary surveys ourselves and benchmark against a range of our peers.
The table below appears in our Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025 and shows the number of staff earning over £60,000:
2025 2024 £60,000 to £69,999 13 10 £70,000 to £79,999 2 2 £80,000 to £89,999 4 1 £90,000 to £99,999 1 5 £100,000 to £109,999 3 1 £110,000 to £119,999 1 1 Included in the number above are medical consultants, doctors and other senior clinical staff directly employed by the Hospice who are paid at a rate equivalent to the relevant NHS scale. Our Chief Executive is the individual whose salary lies in the band £110,000 to £119,999.
The Board of Trustees is responsible for setting the pay of the Chief Executive and senior leadership team. The Board delegates this responsibility to the Remuneration and Nominations Committee which is chaired by the Chair of Trustees and comprises the Chairs of the four Board Committees . The Committee sets the pay of the Executive Team based on performance and achievement against objectives and comparison with the market, in the context of the Hospice’s financial position and any annual pay award.
