The new Hospice Isle of Man chief executive has said its facilities ‘would be the envy of easily 90% of hospices in the UK, if not, much higher than that’.

John Knight was announced as the new boss of the Hospice on November 25, but officially started his role last week on January 3.

Mr Knight said that his first week has been ‘really intriguing and very informative’.

He joins the Hospice having led LOROS hospice, a 31-bed hospice, for seven years between 2015 and 2022.

LOROS hospice services over 1.1 million people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, and is the fifth biggest hospice in the UK.

‘I am really proud actually of a number of decisions I stimulated,’ Mr Knight said. ‘A lot of people did the leg work after that to bring the organisation through the pandemic in a strong way, so when it got to August 2021, I was starting to think, “I need a new challenge”.’

Mr Knight went on to expand on why he chose to return to the island, where he ran the Children’s Centre in Douglas for more than 14 years before moving across.

He said: ‘Before that I had lived in the Isle of Man for 15 years and fortuitously had never sold our house here so there is a part of all of this which feels like a magnetic attraction that the island has never let us go.

‘It felt like it’s almost meant to be.’

Mr Knight takes over from Anne Mills, who ran the hospice for six years between 2016 and 2022.

He said: ‘Thank you to Anne for handing over a really sound organisation.

‘I know she has been very passionate about education and research. As we move forward and get the finances where they need to be, we’re going to have to carefully manage how we spend the money going into the organisation.’

What are Mr Knight’s goals for the organisation?

As he is still new to the role, for now, he sees himself as a ‘calm hand on the tiller’.

He added: ‘Having spoken to the trustees and the senior team and staff, it’s about getting the finances back in order.

‘That’s very important for any organisation, making sure the organisation can pay for itself.’

Before her departure, former chief executive Anne Mills said that the charity had been hit by economic struggles caused by the pandemic in recent years and that it was having to raise £5.5 million annually to simply function.

Mr Knight expressed the importance that the staff and their voices have in the plans for the hospice moving forward.

‘To have a really motivated, well-respected and recognised staff team and group of volunteers who are so vital to an organisation like the Hospice, and to show that they genuinely have a voice to help craft that future.

‘I think consultation of staff and the visibility of the chief executive and the staff’s voices and opinions being valued is essential.’

He added: ‘We have to be sure that excellence in end-of-life care is at the heart of the organisation.’