Hospice Isle of Man has outlined its plan for the next five years to ensure the high quality of care it offers can be sustained and expanded.

The plan was revealed by Anne Mills (Hospice CEO) in front of a crowd of Hospice staff and guests including Lieutenant Governor Sir Richard Gozney.

Mrs Mills was introduced by chairman Sir Miles Walker, who said he was privileged to be able to work with Hospice.

Sir Miles added that Hospice has grown from an idea to a ’well loved and respected part of the community’, before he welcomed Mrs Mills.

Mrs Mills said the plan to move forward had taken 18 months to develop and focused on the title of the plan ’much more than a building’.

Mrs Mills said hospice had a duty to be responsive to the needs of the elderly ’without losing our values of empathy and compassion’.

To do this, she outlined the five goals that Hospice has created to be judged on in five years’ time, which she says will determine whether the strategy has been a success.

Firstly, Hospice plans to support people to be more independent.

This will include supporting more people with 24/7 care, creating a range of volunteer opportunities and building the capacity of the community to allow people to remain independent for as long as possible.

Secondly it aims to reach more people earlier and make that easier.

This will include encouraging self-referral, reviewing child services and developing flexible end of life care to meet individual needs.

Thirdly, Hospice wants to share, learn and educate by training providers and members of the community so they can provide ’Hospice Influenced Care’.

Fourthly, Hospice aims to drive innovation for better care by working with key partners to enhance the experience of care already in place.

And finally, the charity would like to be sustainable for the future by ensuring it has the financial, physical and human resources to provide services for the long term.

Mrs Mills added that Hospice would produce an annual business plan which will allow them to monitor the progress of its five goals.

For more information, visit www.hospice.org.im.