Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care Turns One!

One year as Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care

On 1 July 2024, Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care marks its first anniversary of formally operating as a new charity, following the successful merger of two well-known local Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire charities, Rennie Grove and Peace Hospice Care.   

In that short time, the integration of over 340 staff and 1600+ volunteers across five locations has been a large focus, as well as continuing to provide palliative care and support for over 4,500 people with a progressive life-limiting illness, and their loved ones.  

The first new initiatives developed as Rennie Grove Peace include:  

• Introducing a single point of contact Coordination Centre, offering one telephone number (01923 60 60 30) with direct access to a specialist triage team who can quickly direct anyone in need of support to the team who can provide the care they need.  
• Doubling the Overnight Hospice at Home Team, extending the 24 hour service to the South West Herts area which has led to more patients being able to access care during the night, often the hardest time to cope during an illness.  
• Introducing Paramedics into the multi-disciplinary team, who are trained to react quickly and problem solve in the place of care, avoiding unnecessary trips to hospital      
• Relaunching the Living Well programme, a 10 week course that aims to support and empower people from the moment they are diagnosed with a progressive life-limiting illness, with training, counselling and practical advice on living well with their illness.  
• Growing from two to 16 Compassionate Cafés in the local area, offering friendly bereavement support for those coping with loss.    
• Introducing Electronic Prescribing in the Inpatient Unit in Watford which has made the prescribing process more efficient and convenient for patients and staff.  

Chief Executive, Stewart Marks, says: “We’re delighted to have achieved so much in our first year operating as Rennie Grove Peace, and I cannot thank the team enough for their dedication delivering our 24 hour, 7 days a week hospice care, and the infrastructure that goes alongside it, during this time of huge change.   

“I am also proud of all our new initiatives that help us provide personalised care and support from the moment someone is diagnosed with a progressive life-limiting illness, such as cancer, heart disease, motor neuron disease and Parkinson’s disease, through to end of life care and bereavement support.  

“Of course, we couldn’t deliver any of our much-needed services without the generous support of our local community, who give us their volunteering time and expertise, as well as over 85% of our funding.”  

The organisation’s Presidents, Rennie Grove co-founders Moira Rennie MBE and Dr Mary Groves MBE, and Professor Stephen Spiro OBE, former Chair of the Board of Trustees at Rennie Grove, comment:  

Moira Rennie MBE, joint President of Rennie Grove Peace and wife of the first patient, Iain Rennie, says: “It all started in 1984 with five nurses in our front room who passionately believed in a better way to care for people when they needed it most.  Now, Rennie Grove Peace provides hospice care for over 4,500 people a year.”  

Dr Mary Groves MBE, joint President of Rennie Grove Peace and founder of Grove House, says: “As a GP back in the 80s I could see that no one was looking after people who had just been diagnosed with a progressive life-limiting illness.  Now at Rennie Grove Peace, we support people right from the point of diagnosis with our 1:1 nurse clinics, and our range of therapies such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and complementary therapies, as well as our newly launched Living Well programme to empower people to live well for longer.”   

Professor Stephen Spiro OBE, joint President of Rennie Grove Peace and former Chair of Rennie Grove, says: “During my 10 years as Chair of Trustees we grew into the strong, financially stable and incredibly caring organisation that it is today. The merger between Rennie Grove and Peace Hospice means we can offer the best possible care to even more families in need: in people’s homes, in our Inpatient Unit, and across our outpatient services.”  

Dr Jeremy Shindler, Chair of Trustees at Rennie Grove Peace, says: “When Peace Hospice Care was founded back in 1993, it was based on the belief that everyone deserved the right care at the end of their life, and the whole Watford community got behind us. We owe a lot to our dedicated and forward-thinking founders who were at the forefront of the hospice movement.  Now we support over 4,500 people across Bucks and Herts and the ethos behind all our teams remains the same, that every moment matters.”