Shooting Star Children’s Hospices is looking for an inspiring Director of Care Services to provide dynamic leadership to the organisation and its services.
Who we are
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices provides specialist care and support to families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition or whose child has died across Surrey, south-west London and north-west London.
Our bespoke support is free of charge to families and includes a comprehensive range of therapies and support groups for the whole family, specialist nursing care and respite, symptom management, end-of-life care and bereavement support.
We believe every life-limited or dying child and their family should have the opportunity to make every moment count and get the support they need.
About the role
The Director of Care Services will provide knowledgeable, professional, and inspirational leadership to our care delivery teams. The role will ensure the provision and strategic development of our multidisciplinary care teams.
The Director of Care Services will work alongside the Director of Clinical Assurance and Operations (who has a focus on quality, patient safety and governance), sharing accountability for the strategic leadership of the Care Directorate whilst bringing distinct expertise and focus to their respective portfolios.
This model reflects the increasing complexity of children’s hospice care and enables dedicated executive leadership across service delivery, workforce, quality, patient safety, governance, safeguarding and organisational assurance.
Together, both roles champion our commitment to providing outstanding care and support to children, young people and families whilst ensuring the organisation remains innovative, responsive and sustainable.
Who we are looking for
We are looking for someone who has a clear passion and strong commitment to our mission and values and will support and challenge their team to do the same, ensuring the experiences and voices of the children and their families influence our service delivery and strategies.
As a member of the Directors’ Team (DT), the Director of Care Services will also develop good working relationships within all areas of the hospice, including our Trustees, as well as with external stakeholders.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospice is a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 1042495).
To view the role description and person specification, please go to the ‘How to Apply’ tab above, fill in your details and download the candidate pack.
For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
Rachel Davies | rachel@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07961 208037
Clare Connor | clare@peridotpartners.co.uk
Welcome from the Chief Executive Officer
Dear Candidate,
I am delighted that you are interested in the role of Director of Care Services at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
This is a special place to work, with a proud history of caring for children with life-limiting conditions and those at the end of life. Through the expansion of our Specialist Bereavement Service at the end of 2023, we now also care for families whose child has died suddenly or unexpectedly. We have rightly established our reputation for outstanding standards of care and ensure that children and families are at the very heart of our work.
We continue to be recognised for our achievements and in 2025-26 were proud to win the Dame Elizabeth Fradd Award for innovative research and excellence in the field of children’s palliative care, receive highly commended in the Charity of the Year (income over £10 million) category at Charity Times Awards 2025, and be shortlisted for Large Charity of the Year at the Third Sector Awards and for Children’s Services at the Nursing Times Awards. We are also regularly asked to give presentations both nationally and internationally.
I joined Shooting Star as Chief Executive in September 2021 and am proud to be part of such an incredible organisation. We have a strong Executive Directors Team, an expert Board of Trustees, and a formidable team of dedicated staff and volunteers. We have also developed an incredible cohort of supporters, without whom our work would not be possible.
As our new Director of Care Services, you’ll be an ambitious and inspiring senior leader with experience in leading geographically dispersed and multi-disciplinary teams to improve the services we provide for children and families. We are looking for a dynamic individual with expertise in workforce planning, developing staff and outstanding service delivery, someone who can quickly apply their skills to motivate and lead a high-performing team. This role will be pivotal in driving the provision and strategic development of our outstanding multidisciplinary services, helping us to achieve even more than we do today.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices is a unique organisation, and it is a real privilege to be part of the team. We are looking for someone who shares our ethos and exhibits a clear passion and strong commitment to our mission and values.
It’s certainly an exciting time to be joining Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and I hope you are inspired to apply.
Kind regards,
Paul Farthing
Chief Executive Officer
About us
Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months, or years, we’re here to make every moment count.
Our bespoke support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It includes specialist nursing in the community, symptom management and pain relief, overnight respite stays, end-of-life care, specialist bereavement care and a comprehensive range of therapies, groups and clinics for the whole family.
We support over 1,100 families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition or whose child has died. Including children with life-limiting conditions, their siblings, parents, grandparents, and those who are bereaved, we currently support over 2,600 people.
Our catchment area.
The difference we make.
We cannot alter a child’s diagnosis or prevent the moments no family ever expects to face, but we can, and do, give families the holistic care they need – whenever they need it. We support children to feel safe, settled and as comfortable as possible in their own homes. We give parents the chance to pause, rest and restore their strength. We help siblings make sense of emotions that can feel overwhelming and confusing. And we offer compassion to parents experiencing the deepest grief.
We deliver care at our CQC‑rated Outstanding hospice in Guildford, Christopher’s; at our Outreach, Therapy and Family Support Centre in Hampton, Shooting Star House; in family homes; and within local hospitals. Whether a family’s time with us spans a few days or many years, we work alongside them to ensure that each moment has meaning and that every opportunity for comfort, connection and care is taken.
Our care in numbers (2025/26)
- 604 children with life-limiting conditions were supported
- 556 bereaved families accessed our specialist bereavement support
- 2,623 family members were supported
- 267 new referrals were accepted
- 1,122 care nights were provided
- 42 nights of the year our bereavement suites were in use
- 22,373 face-to-face and telephone contacts were made with families
As we enter the first year of our 2026-30 strategy, and building on the success of our 2023-26 strategy, 2026/27 represents a year of consolidation: an opportunity to assess and reflect on the significant progress we have made – and our priorities support this focus.
Key projects include expanding our community-based care to keep young people out of hospital, ensuring our bereavement and psychosocial services are sustainable and impact-led, growing funding and supporter engagement, piloting the use of AI to improve performance, and continuing to build a strong, values-led organisation.
Our care service in detail.
- Our care service is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We currently have a rating of outstanding at our hospice in Guildford. Shooting Star House in Hampton is our Outreach, Therapy and Family Support Centre.
- Every family is unique. Our multidisciplinary teams work closely with children, young people and families to tailor support to their individual needs, providing a combination of clinical, practical, emotional, psychological and social support throughout their journey with us.
- Comprehensive range of therapies and support groups for the whole family: Our award-winning, highly skilled and professional Psychosocial team provide psychotherapeutic support and social support to children and families. Working alongside social care and clinical colleagues, the team ensures families receive coordinated support throughout their journey. We ensure families are supported throughout their journey with us. This includes our specialist bereavement service whereby we support families whose child died suddenly and unexpectedly with support groups for families such as cognitive behavioural therapy groups, siblings days, pamper days, hydrotherapy and much more.
- Respite at our hospice: Respite provides the children and young people we support with a range of fun, sensory and therapeutic activities, while parents can enjoy family time together, or get a crucial break. Occasionally, a family may require support at short notice due to an unexpected situation. At Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, we pride ourselves on our flexible care and will always do our best to support a family in a crisis.
- Symptom management: Many of the children we support have very complex, painful and changing symptoms, particularly at end of life. We have a Specialist Paediatric pAlliative CarE (SPACE) team led by one of the country’s leading consultants in paediatric palliative medicine, who leads a team made up of doctors, a Nurse Consultant, and a team of specialist nurses trained in symptom care, who provide expert advice, including individualised symptom care plans and emergency health care plans, to help improve a child’s quality of life. The team are also part of a 24/7 telephone service, enabling families to access support wherever they are.
- End-of-life care: One of our fundamental aims is to provide expert nursing and medical care for children at end of life, with support for their families, in their preferred place of care and death. Our team of community nurses assess the nursing needs of children referred to our service and provide emotional and practical support and nursing care to families in their own homes during the last six months of a child’s life. They also provide an on-call service to step in immediately and support families with intervention-based nursing care at home in times of crisis.
- Bereavement support: Care does not stop after a child has died. We have a dedicated bereavement suite where a child can lay at rest, allowing their family to say goodbye in a familiar and supportive environment. We provide specialist bereavement care for three years and three months after a child has died.
We support young people as they prepare to transition to adult services, helping them and their families navigate what can be a challenging period of change and uncertainty.
We also provide support for children and young people with highly complex health needs, including those who are ventilator dependent and may have limited access to alternative respite or hospice provision.
Where we came from
Our story began as two separate children’s hospice charities: CHASE, which was founded in 1994 and The Shooting Star Trust, which was founded in 1995. In April 2011, the two charities merged to become the charity we are today.
1990 – Our story began when Julia Lever MBE set up a fundraising group to support a children’s hospice in Birmingham. Julia soon realises that there is no comparable service covering south-east England, so sets about establishing such a service.
1994 – CHASE, which stands for Children’s Hospice Association of the Southeast, is officially registered as a charity.
1995 – Kate Turner MBE establishes The Shooting Star Trust with the aim of providing a home-from-home environment offering medical, practical and emotional services free of charge to families in south-west London. The charity is named Shooting Star Trust in recognition of children with life-limiting conditions who, like shooting stars, shine bright but are gone far too soon.
1997 – In January, Michael and Sarah More-Molyneux make their land available on which to build a children’s hospice – a £3.5million project. In August of the same year, Christopher, Michael and Sarah’s young son sadly dies in a tragic accident on the Loseley Estate. It’s then decided that the yet-to-be-named hospice will be called Christopher’s in his memory.
1999 – CHASE raises enough money to launch their Community Team – a service dedicated to providing care and support to families in need throughout the Southeast.
2001 – 11 years after CHASE was founded, Christopher’s, our nine-bedroom hospice in Artington, Guildford, is opened on 21st November.
2005 – Ten years after The Shooting Star Trust was founded, Shooting Star House opens its doors and welcomes its first family on 5 August.
2011 – In one of the key moments of our story, The Shooting Star Trust and CHASE merge to become Shooting Star Chase, paving the way for opportunities to increase care, expertise and funding.
2019 – Shooting Star Chase becomes Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, to better promote the work we do to the communities we serve.
2021 – On 5 August 2021, Shooting Star House, which temporarily closed due to the pandemic, reopened as our Outreach, Therapy and Family Support Centre, providing a comprehensive range of therapies and specialist clinics.
2022 – Christopher’s retains its ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission – the best possible evidence of the quality and commitment of care we provide to families across Surrey and west London.
2023 – Our new strategy, For Every Family, is published, followed later in the year by the launch of our new specialist bereavement service. For the first time, we are able to offer support to families whose child died suddenly or unexpectedly.
2024 – The work of Shooting Star Children’s Hospices wins Charity of the Year at the Charity Today Awards and both Best Palliative Care Provider and Best Family Liaison Team at the Care Awards. Our specialist bereavement service is also highly commended at the Third Sector Awards.
2026 – Building on the success of our 2023-2026 strategy, we are entering the first year of our 2026-30 strategy, to be there for families wherever they need us.
Read more about our story
Accessibility information
We understand that different members of the community have different access needs and have made some modifications to the way we do business to accommodate people from diverse communities and abilities.
Our accessibility provisions include:
- Step-free access to the building, all key meeting rooms and bathrooms, and an accessible workstation.
- Accessibility dogs are welcome.
- Papers and materials can be presented in different formats.
- A sign language interpreter can be accessed for interviews.
- Working patterns and locations can be adjusted.
To organise a conversation, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
Rachel Davies | rachel@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07961 208037
Clare Connor | clare@peridotpartners.co.uk
Thank you for your interest in this role. Please download the Role Description and Person Specification.
To formally apply, please submit a CV and supporting statement (ideally maximum 2 sides of A4 each) that clearly outlines your suitability for the role against the criteria provided in the person specification, including your interest and motivation in applying for this position.
Please include your home address, contact email and mobile.
Please ensure that your application is emailed to response@peridotpartners.co.uk, inserting “Application: Shooting Star Children’s Hospices — Director of Care Services” into the subject field. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 2-3 days. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, please contact our admin team.
For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
Rachel Davies | rachel@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07961 208037
Clare Connor | clare@peridotpartners.co.uk
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Timetable
Closing date: 9 a.m. Tuesday 8th September 2026
First stage interviews (online): Wednesday 16th September 2026 (TBC)
Second stage interviews (in-person): Friday 25th September 2026 (TBC)
We are in the process of confirming the interview dates. As soon as we have this information, we will update the site and inform all who have already applied.
Equal Opportunities Monitoring
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