Hospices require good governance by their trustees, clear leadership by their chairmen, and effective management by their senior staff in order to provide quality services to their users and retain the confidence of their donors, funders, volunteers and staff. This Governance area of our website describes the range of services and materials provided by Help the Hospices and others to help trustees, chairmen and senior staff to develop strong governance.

Governance refers to the arrangements within your hospice by which the trustees exercise their legal duties of care, influence and control over the running of the hospice. It includes an appropriate legal structure (a constitution or Memorandum and Articles of Association) accountability to the members and to regulatory bodies, budget setting and monitoring, forward planning, compliance with all relevant standards and legal obligations, and establishing a fair and ethical working environment.

Governance is different from management. The trustees are responsible for exercising governance when they meet together as a board or committee; governance requires them to maintain a strategic overview of the direction and performance of the entire hospice. Management is the responsibility of of the chief executive and senior management team. It involves the operational delivery of services to hospice users and their families, and putting into practice the plans and decisions made by the trustees.

How Good is your Governance?
You can download a short self-assessment quiz for trustees about their governance role Download Checklist. The PowerPoint presentation offers some suggested 'answers' and best practice guidelines in response to the quiz

All the latest updates, events and publications are shown on the What's New page

Help the Hospices has developed four programmes geared specifically to the needs of hospice trustees:

• Trustee Induction Pack: a comprehensive resource and information pack for all hospice trustees.
• Board Development Programme: a one- or two-day event delivered with the whole board at your hospice focused on the roles and key responsibilities of the board and how these can be best met in practice
• Partners in Success (PinS): a two day structured programme to develop the relationship between the Chair and Chief Executive of your hospice
• On-site consultancy and training services: For a hospice dealing with a specific situation or requiring a service tailored to their particular circumstances, we have a small team of experienced consultants able to work with you directly on-site.

Help the Hospices and the Forum of Chairmen of Independent Hospices have also endorsed the Good Governance Code developed nationally by the Governance Hub consortium.

Hospice chairmen will also find the Forum of Chairmen of Independent Hospices a useful source of support and advice.

We also regularly update our Other Sources of Guidance page on which we list more general books, courses and organisations which hospices have found particularly helpful in governing and managing their services.