Peace Hospice Care and Rennie Grove Hospice Care have merged to help meet the growing need for hospice services.
Here’s what it means for you and the people currently receiving support.
Why the change?
Whilst both of our charities are dedicated to providing people in local communities with care, support and advice, demand for these services has been increasing. And that means many are missing out on vital palliative care. We want to help meet that demand, so anyone can get support when they need it most.
Whilst we have grown our catchment area of support, we are still committed to being your local hospice. Except we can now offer a better range of services, and offer more choice about where you would like your care, at the time when you need it most.
By teaming up, we will both vastly extend and improve our range of services, enabling more people to access support and receive the very best care. As one larger charity, we will also have a stronger presence and a louder voice. And we can harness these benefits to secure more resources, which further enhance our services. This change officially came into effect on 1st July 2023, when our two organisations merged to become Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care.
How the merger will benefit people and their families
Looking ahead, we have a three-year plan to provide localised care for around 7,500 patients a year through services across Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with a newly combined team of over 370 employees.
This is based on an average of 1% of the people in our catchment area dying each year, 75% of whom are likely to need end-of-life care*.
In addition, we have a five-year plan to grow services already established at each charity by rolling them out across our new, larger catchment area. These include bereavement counselling, Compassionate Neighbours and Children’s Hospice at Home. Rest assured, current services will continue to operate without interruption.
“I am delighted with the sheer amount of hard work that has been happening to combine the two successful charities. We have already identified key growth areas to focus on to serve and support more people, reach all sections of the community and ensure every local person receives the care they need, when they need it.”
"A major advantage of our merger is the ability to streamline operations and make efficiencies in the way that we both fundraise and spend income.”
Why we still need your support
As ever, the support of our local communities is crucial. Your kind donations make it possible for us to continue running and growing our services. Without you, we can’t support people with life-limiting illnesses and their families – and make every day count.
Want to know more?
To find out more about the merger, please read our FAQs below, or get in touch if you have any other questions.
Our new organisation is called Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care, operating under this name from 1st July 2023.
After much debate, the new name was agreed by the Executive Board and Board of Trustees as part of our initial merger conversations.
Our new Charity Number is 1201713.
Supporters will still be able to make donations to Rennie Grove Hospice Care, Charity No. 11400386 and Peace Hospice Care, Charity No. 1002878 if they wish to do so, but from 1st July 2023 we will be promoting and operating as Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care.
Our registered address is:
Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care,
Peace Drive, Watford,
Hertfordshire,
WD17 3PH.
We chose this address because not only is it the home of our iconic Peace Hospice building, it is also the administration base for our Executive Board and Trustee teams. However, we do all work across our multiple locations on a day to day basis to deliver our services across the full catchment area of West Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Yes, since our merger was announced, our new larger team has combined together across our existing locations: Peace Hospice in Watford, Rennie House in Tring, Grove House in St Albans, Bainbridge House in Berkhamsted and Gillian King House in Chalfont St Giles. We also have a network of 32 retail shops across Herts and Bucks.
Yes, the Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care Board of Trustees was newly formed when the merger was announced from a combination of the Rennie Grove and Peace trustees. Our Board of Trustees comprises of specialists in different sectors, from healthcare to marketing to business development and retail. They offer advice and approve big decisions such as our annual expenditure and income targets. Similarly, Trustees contribute to our three-year strategic plan.
Fundamentally, the local hospice care previously provided by the Rennie Grove and Peace Hospice teams has continued uninterrupted during our merger transition. This was key to our integration plans, as the care and support we provide to local patients and those who care for them was our number one priority.
The key reason for the merger was because demand for our services has been increasing, and that meant that many were at risk of missing out on vital palliative care. By combining our teams and resources, we will be able to help meet that demand better, so that anyone can get support when they need it the most.
By teaming up into one organisation, we are now able to strengthen our ability to provide support, extend and improve our services, reaching more people, and enable patients and those who care for them to access a choice of support, and receive the very best care for their needs. As one larger charity, we will have a stronger presence and louder voice, helping us secure more resources.
Yes, there will be. Looking ahead, we have a three-year plan to provide localised care for around 7,500 patients a year throughout West Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with a newly combined team of around 370 employees.
Our estimated number of 7,500 patients a year is based on our catchment area serving approximately 1 million people who attend GP surgeries in the area, and an average of 1% of that GP population dying each year. We know that around 75% of those dying are likely to need our care and could benefit from direct palliative or end of life care intervention, or from the support of our generalist advice or wider bereavement or counselling services.
Yes, as well as our three-year plan to consolidate our services, giving patients across our wider area access to more clinical support and expertise, we have a five-year plan to grow the services already established by our two charities into the new larger catchment areas. These include bereavement, counselling, Compassionate Neighbours, Compassionate Café and Support Hubs and Children’s Hospice at Home. Key to our longer-term goals is the ability to extend our 24/7 model of Community Hospice at Home care across our wider catchment area.
More than ever, with increasing demand for our services, support from our local communities is crucial. Your kind donations make it possible for us to continue running and growing our services. With both our teams combined, we now need to raise over £15m per year, in order for us to offer the best care and support for people with life-limiting illnesses and those who care for them.
We do receive some NHS funding, such as for our contracted counselling services, and this does help provide a regular flow of income. However, this represents under a third of what we need to run our organisation successfully. Our vision is to provide every person in our area with access to care, support and advice, when and where they need it, and every offer of support is hugely appreciated.
There are many ways to support us: whether it’s through generous financial support, donating goods to or spending money in our shops or giving us your time and valuable expertise, as one of our 1600+ volunteers.
There are many different ways that people choose to donate to our charity, and we are extremely grateful – donate now
If you would like to join our team, we regularly update our vacancies page
Or you can find out about becoming one of our amazing volunteers
There are lots of ways to get involved with fundraising for us, from skydiving to fun runs and sponsored activities – check out our events
We are so grateful to all of our local supporters, and there is always something on in the community to help raise our much-needed funds – find out about community fundraising
Passionate about fashion? If you could spare us some time, why not join our retail & trading team and volunteers in one of our 32 shops across Herts and Bucks. Or could you help our busy central distribution centre in Berkhamsted? Volunteer in our shops or central distribution team
No, our goal is that relevant services will always be local to the patient, unless they choose to travel for their own reasons. Our team of experts will talk to you and the people around you about your preferred choice of care and where you would like to be supported, whether at home, in our inpatient unit, or wherever you are living at the time.
We currently have 32 Rennie Grove and Peace Hospice shops who are now working together as a combined retail & trading team. As many of them are extremely established on their own high streets, for now, donations, purchases and associated Gift Aid will be processed by Rennie Grove Hospice Care, Charity No. 11400386 and Peace Hospice Care, Charity No. 1002878 which are both part of the Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care group, Charity No. 1201713. As we launch new shops, we will look at introducing the new name onto the high street – watch this space!
We are proud to be part of Compassionate Neighbours, offering one to one counselling across Herts and Bucks. We also run local Compassionate Cafés and Support Hubs, which initiated in the Watford and Herts area, and we are rapidly growing across our new larger catchment area.
Yes. We have developed a number of very strong partnerships with the common goal of providing the best care across our own local catchment area, as well as working closely with our neighbouring hospices. We all want to give the best choices to our patients and those who care for them.
In 2017, our amazing Rennie Grove volunteers were awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service (which has now become the King’s Award.) This is unofficially known as the MBE of volunteering, and all of our volunteers can display their award with pride, as it’s an award for life. We even made the local press.
As our Rennie Grove registered charity number will continue to exist, alongside our past charity numbers, this award will always be part of our history, but as we change our name officially to Rennie Grove Peace, as a new organisation, we are unable to display this award, and will just have to wait to be nominated again.
*It is expected that 1% of a GP population die each year, with 75% of that 1% known to have a progressive life-limiting illness that they will die from. RGP serves a GP population of just over 1 million, therefore 7,500 people living in the West Herts and Bucks area could benefit from direct P/EOLC intervention, or from the support of our generalist RGP advice or services.
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Our care and support
At Rennie Grove Peace, our unique care provides a lifeline of compassion and support to patients, carers, and families facing life-limiting illness in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
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Get involved
Donate, fundraise, volunteer or shop with us to make a difference to local families facing life-limiting illness.
