Note for staff and volunteers:
At the moment, the Dove Cottage and LOROS Hospice merger is not a done deal. It is a proposed merger that both parties really want to happen and everyone is working hard to answer lots of questions that need to be gone through before the merger can happen. Both Dove and LOROS’s senior management teams want and expect the merger to take place but it’ll take a while (as long as a year) to complete all the formalities.
This crib sheet is designed to help you answer what we think will be the most common questions people will ask. We will also work on another one with more details in due course. If there are any questions that come up that aren’t on this sheet, please ask the person to message Chris at Dove or Rob at LOROS (contact details as above). They are more than happy to answer any questions that volunteers or the public may have. As our customer facing team, you are our eyes and ears! If you have an idea of something to go on our next FAQs sheet, or there’s anything you think we should be doing to ensure we communicate the proposed merger well, please do get in touch with the marketing teams - Jenny at Dove (jenny@dovecottage.org) or Garry at LOROS (garryteasdale@loros.co.uk)
Yes. Day care will continue as normal at the hospice in Stathern. Guests’ care will not be affected by the planned merger with LOROS, and they will continue to come on their designated day each week.
All of Dove’s support services will also continue – these are our online Dementia Support Groups and home sitting, family support and bereavement support.
Dove and LOROS may choose to increase their care services as the partnership becomes established, but that won’t be for at least a year.
In Rutland, our monthly Wellbeing and Support Group will continue as usual, and we will carry on with home visits and telephone support.
LOROS’s inpatients and day care patients will also be unaffected by the merger, and all of the hospice’s outreach support, complementary therapy and counselling services will continue as normal. None of LOROS’s patients will be affected by the potential merger.
Both Dove and LOROS’s senior management teams want and expect the merger to take place but it’ll take a while (as long as a year) to complete all the formalities - the aim is to complete by the end of March 2023.
No. Dove Cottage has been financially stable in all of its 25-year history, and that remains true as of 2022. Both Dove and LOROS’s accounts are public on the Charity Commission website. Dove Cottage is not in financial trouble.
Dove and LOROS have chosen to merge because of Chris Gatfield’s retirement in March 2023. Chris Gatfield is Dove’s founder and current registered manager. The most important thing in Chris’s departure is to secure Dove Cottage’s future for those who rely on its care services. Combining the resources of both hospices is believed to be the best way to do that. LOROS is a well-established, highly-respected and financially-secure organisation which shares common charitable objectives with Dove Cottage, and both provide a high level of care to those who are terminally ill - they are therefore perfect partners.
Yes. Each charity still has separate bank accounts, and money will be ring fenced for Dove Cottage or LOROS going forward.
Yes. The charity shops will all remain open and trading as usual, as will Dove’s Tea Room.
Yes. All staff at both hospices will be protected if the merger goes through. All services at the hospices will remain the same and so we will still need our volunteers, in the same roles, as before. The charity shops and Dove’s Tea Room will also remain the same and so nothing changes for the volunteers at the shops and tea room.
Dove Cottage Day Hospice: Chris Gatfield, registered manager. Tel: 01949 860303. Email: chris@dovecottage.org LOROS Hospice: Rob Parkinson, CEO. Tel: 0116 231 3771. Email: askrob@loros.co.uk
LOROS (the Leicester Organisation for the Relief Of Suffering) offers hospice care for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Founded by the community in 1977 to care for local people, it has been supporting and caring for patients living with a terminal illness, and their families for over 30 years. Today it cares for 2,500 adults each year through a range of community support specialists, complementary and day therapy as well as a 31-bed inpatient ward for symptom management and end of life care. It is based at Groby Road in Leicester.
Dove Cottage Day Hospice offers high quality palliative day care to people in northeast Leicestershire, Rutland, southeast Nottinghamshire and southwest Lincolnshire who are living with a life-limiting illness, such as cancer, heart failure, respiratory and progressive neurological disorders. We also help people struggling with frailty or loneliness. The hospice provides nursing care and advice, wellbeing activities such as complementary therapies, chaplaincy team support, games, crafts, refreshments and a home-cooked lunch. Guests come to the hospice to be cared for in a home from home atmosphere, usually for one day a week. Dove also has a range of support services for dementia, carers and bereavement.
No. Both organisations will continue to be known in our communities as either Dove Cottage Day Hospice or LOROS Hospice.
