The Butterwick Hospice has appointed Debbie Jones as its new chief executive. She speaks to PETER BARRON about her aspirations for one of the North-East’s best-known charities

WHEN Debbie Jones left college, she was on the verge of joining the Royal Navy as an engineer, specialising in the performance of weapons.

After passing all the tests, she decided a life at sea wasn’t for her after all and found herself building a career in the health sector instead.

Now, after several health service management roles, Newcastle-born Debbie has a new challenge: to steady the ship at the Butterwick Hospice and guide it out of troubled waters.

Debbie has been appointed following the sudden departure of previous chief executive Graham Leggatt-Chidgey, who has since been arrested on suspicion of fraud.

With a police investigation continuing, Debbie is unable to comment on the circumstances surrounding the investigation but she is determined to move the organisation forward into a new era.

“The Butterwick Hospice has been established for more than 30 years, supporting countless people,” she says. “We mustn’t lose sight of all that’s been achieved and the amazing legacy we’ve been left to manage.”

The Butterwick, which has hospices in Stockton and Bishop Auckland, was founded in 1984 by inspirational mum-of-four Mary Butterwick, OBE, who passed away two years ago, aged 91. When Mary’s beloved husband, John, died from a brain tumour, Mary sold her home to help establish a place where people could die with dignity.

“It was an act of immense courage and selflessness,” says Debbie. “In the midst of her own grief, Mary saw the bigger picture, and that’s what we all have to do now.”

She highlights the fact that Mary’s grand-daughter, Karen Holder, has just become the Butterwick’s latest ambassador. “It speaks volumes about the importance of the legacy,” says Debbie.

The new chief executive identifies her priority as ensuring the Butterwick is run as “a tight ship”. Financial efficiencies must be maximised and different ways of working explored. But she also recognises the need for ambassadorial skills to build bridges and maintain the charity’s high profile.

She’s confident that the experience she’s gained will stand her in good stead, even though it’s a career she “stumbled into, almost by accident”.

“After I realised the Navy wasn’t for me, I didn’t have a plan B,” she admits.

She went to a careers interview where catering was suggested as a possible career path. It could hardly have been further removed from being a naval weapons analyst, but Debbie found herself studying for a Higher National Diploma in hotel catering and institutional management.

From there, she won a place on the NHS hotel services management scheme and her first job was as a catering manager for a South Tyneside community unit. After 13 months, she was brave enough to tell her executive director she was bored and that a restructure was needed.

To her surprise, he acted on her advice and she was taken away from catering and given the role of assistant contracts manager for GP fundholding in South Tyneside – her first step into NHS financial management.

After taking a year out to have her son, James, she came back into the health sector, initially juggling motherhood with part-time roles. When James was old enough, she worked full-time in a variety of increasingly challenging management positions, ending up as National Service Improvement Manager for NHS Property Services.

She has also spent the past 16 years as a trustee of a charity which lost its chief executive and deputy in difficult circumstances, meaning that she and her chairman had to run the organisation for five months.

“It was challenging but it gave me a real taste for running a charity. I found it really rewarding and, on top of my experience in the health service, I hope it will prepare me for the task ahead,” she says.

And she’s under no illusions about the size of that task.

“The Butterwick Hospice is an incredibly important organisation. It’s about allowing people to die with dignity, while also providing support for families going through the most traumatic time of their lives.

“It’s hard to put into words the difference the organisation makes and the perception is often very different from the reality. Far from being a sad place, there’s actually a happy, gentle atmosphere created by the most incredible team of dedicated, caring staff, backed up by wonderful volunteers.”

Taking over as chief executive of one of the region’s most high-profile charities, in the midst of such difficult circumstances, will require a combination of sensitivity and toughness, but Debbie’s hobbies – as well as her professional experience – suggest that she will be well equipped.

She loves tending to her garden but she also happens to be a former finalist in the Go-Kan-Ryu Karate World Championships as well a qualified rugby union coach.

“I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be easy, ¬but when I set out to do something, I give it my all,” she says. “I’m excited and humbled to be given the opportunity to make a difference in such a special organisation.”