Rowcroft celebrates milestone as more than 100 End-of-Life Care Ambassadors complete programme
More than 115 health and social care professionals have completed Rowcroft Hospice’s End-of-Life Care Ambassador Programme since it launched in 2018, creating a growing network of champions dedicated to improving end-of-life care across South Devon.
Delivered in partnership with Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, the nine-month programme gives professionals the knowledge, skills and confidence to drive positive change within their own workplaces and champion high-quality care for people approaching the end of life.
As part of the programme, ambassadors develop projects tailored to their own care settings, putting their learning into practice to improve support for patients, families and carers. By taking their ideas and experience back to their organisations, they help spread good practice and make a lasting difference for people receiving care.
A “phenomenal” programme
Joseph Clark-Skinner, Office Manager at Teign Angels, completed the programme in 2025. He said:
“The Ambassadors Programme is phenomenal, and I’m so glad that I did it. It’s given me a lot of confidence and reassurance, and the sessions themselves provided spaces where I was able to discuss different things with professionals I likely would never have met otherwise. Most of the time, we’re all looking at the same issues and problems, just from different angles, so being able to talk things through with the brilliant attendees and wonderful facilitators was really useful. It’s also helped to really bolster my confidence with Advance Care Planning, and Teign Angels is rolling out an Advance Care Planning Conversation Guarantee to everyone we support.
“We’re also continuing to promote the role that Advance Care Planning can play and the importance for health and social care professionals to feel confident enough to talk about it with people they’re supporting. We’re running sessions to talk to health and social care students in schools and colleges locally, we’ve embedded it into our work placement programme, and we’re planning a social media campaign in a couple of months all about it. The confidence and knowledge I’ve gained from the Ambassador Programme has been instrumental in all of this, and I’m very proud to be an ambassador!”
Learning and reflection
An anonymous ambassador from the cohort in 2026 explained how the training impacted their practice and life:
“The training has pushed me off the edge and I find myself flying and exploring! I speak with more calmness, detail and clarity about death and dying. I integrate it into my spaces of training and reflection. I can find appropriate words quicker and feel more peaceful to not know what to say and to embrace the silence.
“I am open to exploring the rhythm of death and dying in myself and others with greater openness. I have taken active steps to integrate speaking about endings and death in common day-to-day interventions and connections – both professional and private. I am more aware of death as a part of life and the light it brings for human growth.”
Promoting outstanding care
Kerry Macnish, Head of Education at Rowcroft Hospice, said:
“It has been inspiring to see the commitment and creativity shown by our ambassadors over the eight years that the programme has been running. Each ambassador brings their own experience and ideas to improve care, and together they are helping to create meaningful change for patients, families and carers across South Devon. We are so proud of this programme, as it enables outstanding care beyond our organisation to all those joining us from across our community.”
The programme reflects Rowcroft’s commitment to sharing knowledge and expertise beyond its own services, supporting health and social care professionals across South Devon to provide the best possible care and support when people need it most.
To find out more about the work of Rowcroft’s Education Team, visit: rowcrofthospice.org.uk/education