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.

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.”

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.”

To find out more about the work of Rowcroft’s Education Team, visit: rowcrofthospice.org.uk/education