Investing in Excellence with Douglas Macmillan Hospice

Dougie Mac Hospice in Stoke-on-Trent has become the first UK hospice to achieve Level 6 accreditation from the UK’s leading performance improvement, organisational development and sustainable growth specialists, Investors in Excellence (IiE).

This award is testament to the hard work, care and incredible standards of the team at Dougie Mac, who have been working in partnership with IiE over the last 6 years.

David Webster, Chief Executive of Dougie Mac said: “We want to be admired as a centre of excellence for palliative and end of life care – that is our fundamental goal. We therefore wanted to work with Investors in Excellence to secure excellence at the core of our hospice, and this partnership has been invaluable in our quest to evidence all that we do as demonstrably excellent.”

Gaining “greater” recognition

In the Staffordshire area, Douglas Macmillan Hospice (known as Dougie Mac), has been providing care and support for people with life limiting illnesses and their families, since 1973.

Recently, the hospice amalgamated local children’s hospice the Donna Louise Trust into its services, and they are now operating as one single hospice, providing palliative care to adults, young adults and children.

For Dougie Mac, this award is more than a reward for building a solid framework for continual improvement, it’s a statement to patients, families and the community that they provide compassion, accountability, respect and excellence in everything they do. 

“In a hospice environment it’s all about making people feel safe, and quality plays a key role. The hospice has a culture of continuous quality monitoring, in which any shortfalls are identified and acted upon quickly.” 

“It is invigorating to think of a hospice future which combines a contemporary zest with an authentic respect for our roots.

“We have been working in partnership with IiE for six years, and their expertise has illuminated so much, and we know it will help our fantastic team, becoming part of our DNA and giving staff and volunteers the recognition they deserve for delivering an exceptional service for patients and their loved ones.”  

“The IiE Standard is our performance improvement framework of choice so we always know how well we are doing and can set plans appropriately. We work daily to our values through every part, every person, every process through CARE: Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence.”

David Webster, Chief Executive of Dougie Mac.

The Investor in Excellence Award

As significant as the Investor in Excellence Award is to the team at Dougie Mac, it’s also incredibly reassuring to patients and family members who rely on them for support.

That’s why the award itself has been designed as an acrylic and aluminium plaque, perfect for mounting prominently on the wall for all to see.

Kevin Hart, IiE MD and Programme Director said: “This outstanding accolade for the first assessment bears testimony to the work Dougie Mac and IiE have completed in development and improvement training prior to the assessment.” 

 “Dougie Mac deservedly gained a ‘greater’ recognition at the first full and formal assessment. Very few organisations achieve such an award at the first attempt.

“It is a recognition of the quality of people from full-time to volunteers, to all their salaried staff and nurses, who all share a passionate belief in what Dougie Mac stands for and does.”