General policies

Non-tolerance of violence statement:

The staff, volunteers and patients at Thames Hospice have the right to work and be cared for in a safe and supportive environment. Consequently, violence against any of our staff, volunteers or patients will not be tolerated and will be treated as criminal behaviour. This may involve referral to the police, culminating in criminal proceedings if appropriate. We also reserve the right to exclude individuals from our premises if their behaviour is anti-social and therefore is causing upset, annoyance or harm.

Remuneration Statement:

Thames Hospice’s mission is to provide and support the best palliative and end-of-life care to our community, giving dignity and comfort to those facing life-limiting illnesses Our 4 Organisational Values are the essence of our culture and the inspiration for our behaviour. They are Compassion, Ambition, Respect, Excellence (CARE).

The Hospice employs around 261 people who work in a wide range of roles – our clinical staff, our retail and fundraising teams and support staff.

Our approach to pay and working conditions is clear and transparent, allowing us to attract and retain appropriately qualified staff to help us deliver our aims. It also ensures that, staff, volunteers, supporters, donors, beneficiaries and the public recognise the importance of accountability in all aspects of our work including our Reward Policy.

The Hospice’s Reward Policy ensures our reward and recognition practice underpins and supports our vision, mission, organisational values and strategic objectives. We are committed to ensuring that our salaries remain competitive in the labour market so that we can attract and retain appropriately qualified staff to help us deliver our charitable objectives.

We directly employ doctors, nurses and other allied healthcare professionals who are paid at a rate equivalent to the national NHS scale for their profession.

For all other staff we set salaries taking into account the knowledge, skills and experience required for the job and we apply this consistently across the organisation. 

We benchmark our salaries against other hospices, the wider charity sector and take into account local market forces. All our employees and workers are paid at the level of at least the National Living Wage and we aim to pay salaries within the median range for similar organisations.

Salaries across the organisation are reviewed annually. Increases are not guaranteed and are dependent on affordability and organisational financial circumstances.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for deciding on the salaries of the Chief Executive and Directors. The Board delegates this responsibility to the Nominations and Remuneration Committee. This Committee comprises of three Trustees, including the Chair of Trustees and one with a strong pedigree in HR leadership. Performance is reviewed and reported to the Nominations and Remuneration Committee on an annual basis. The Hospice’s HR Committee provides oversight for all other staff and reviews their performance.

In line with best practice, we will publish all salaries over £60,000 per year, identified as being clinical or non-clinical posts. We will also publish the ratio of our highest to the median salary.

As at 31 March 2023, we had eight staff members whose salary exceeded £60,000 pa, all of which are members of our Senior Management Team. The ratio of our highest salary to our median salary is 4:1.

More details on Thames Hospice’s finances and operations are available in our Annual Report.

Policies:

Hospice Management

Statement of Purpose
Being Open (Duty of Candour)
Confidentiality
Speaking Up Policy
Feedback and Complaints
Equal Opportunities
Gift and Recognition Policy
Data Protection Policy
Health and Safety Policy

Patient Care

Safeguarding Children and Young People from Abuse
Mental Capacity Act
Clinical Consent

Fundraising 
Fundraising Complaints Policy
Social Responsibility in Gambling Policy
Prize Led Fundraising Exclusion Policy
Prize Led Fundraising Complaints Procedure
Lottery (Full Terms and Conditions)
Lottery Key Events

Volunteering
Volunteer Policy

Gift acceptance and recognition:

Thames Hospice is extremely grateful that donors choose to donate to Thames Hospice. We have a Gift Acceptance and Recognition Policy to ensure that we do not accept or solicit gifts that would be detrimental to the achievement of the purposes of the charity, or our reputation. We may accept gifts for particular projects provided those purposes are within Thames Hospice’s objectives and capable of being carried out. We reserve the right to acknowledge gifts made as a ‘discernible gesture’. We will not accept gifts where administration costs outweigh the value of the gift, nor will we accept gifts for reasons outside the purposes of Thames Hospice.

If you are looking for a policy that's not listed here, or for further information, please email our Company Secretary.