THE new boss of Havens Hospices has promised to put patients and families at the heart of every decision he makes, as he takes the organisation into a new era.

Chief executive Steve Smith is the now person in charge of Fair Havens Hospice – covering Southend, Castle Point and Rochford – Little Havens Hospice for children, Thundersley and The J’ Hospices, based in Witham.

The 46-year-old, who lives in Leigh, has been working for the organisation since October 2015 as director of facilities, but also as New Fair Havens Hospice project director where he has been the driving force behind the planned new Fair Havens hospice being built in Prittlewell.

Mr Smith, a former vice principle of Belfairs Academy, Leigh, said: “Working in the public sector led me to realise that delivering projects that had a positive impact on people’s lives was my passion.

“My daily work at the school contributed to improving the education for more than 1,300 students. Moving to the not-for-profit sector was an easy decision, and to do this in my hometown was very important.

“My involvement in the delivery of the only secondary school in Southend to be completely rebuilt led to my interest in new Fair Havens and what an expanded and modernised hospice could offer the community.

“Here at Havens Hospices, I want to use my experience to make a positive impact on families that need our help and I have a great sense of duty to use our donors’ money to deliver the best quality of care we can to as many people as we can.”

Steve officially started his new role on August 12 and has already made a commitment to the staff and volunteers at Havens Hospices.

He said: “Ultimately we should be here to give better care to more people, not just through our actual hospices but also in the community. I’ll be working with our external healthcare partners to remove the isolation of hospice care while finding more opportunities to expand our care and funding models.

“I have promised to put the patients and families at the heart of every decision we make, listen to the ideas of our staff and volunteers and empower them to find solutions, and believe that we all have the potential to be even better at what we all do.”

To find out more about the care of Havens Hospices visit www.havenshospices.org.uk