December 2025 marks a significant milestone for The Myton Hospices as Ruth Freeman celebrates a decade of dedicated leadership. Over the past 10 years, Ruth has championed compassion, resilience, and innovation, ensuring people living with a life-limiting illness across Coventry and Warwickshire receive the very best palliative and end of life care.

During her tenure, almost 13,000 patients and their families have been supported by our teams across our three hospices and in the community.

Ruth’s decade as CEO has been defined by bold service development and a commitment to meeting the changing needs of the communities we serve. Under her leadership, The Myton Hospices has introduced a number of nationally recognised initiatives and developed a range of new and existing services.

The Wellbeing Service replaced the traditional Day Unit, offering a more flexible and holistic model of support. The Fatigue and Breathlessness programme was launched to help patients regain confidence and independence. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, respite services were reopened in recognition of the vital role short breaks play for patients and carers.

Myton has also pioneered new ways to improve access to earlier support. The award-winning GP Information Clinics have enabled countless patients and families to better understand the services available to them. In partnership with Macmillan, the innovative Citizens Advice service has been widely praised for integrating specialist welfare and financial guidance directly into palliative care.

Alongside clinical innovation, there has been remarkable growth in volunteering and fundraising. More people than ever have chosen to give their time, energy and generosity to sustain Myton’s work – strengthening our foundations during a period of immense financial pressure across the wider hospice sector.

Reflecting on her ten years as CEO at Myton, Ruth said:

It’s hard to believe that I have been CEO at Myton for 10 years, the time has literally flown by. It’s not surprising when you consider all of the wonderful opportunities the role has given me, not least to meet so many amazing people and to work alongside a team of committed staff, volunteers and supporters all dedicated to going the extra mile for patients and their families.

Of course, there have been challenges along the way – Covid what a resilience test that was, but I look back with pride when I remember how the whole Myton family and thousands of people and organisations across Coventry and Warwickshire pulled together to ensure Myton could continue providing vital services to those who needed them most.

Currently our biggest challenge and one affecting the whole hospice sector is the lack of government funding, and we, alongside our hospice colleagues from across the UK are fighting for funding reform to ensure the sustainability of vital Palliative and End of Life care services for everyone. Fortunately, unlike many hospices we have not yet had to cut services, this is due to a lot of hard work by our Income Generation teams but also because of the unwavering support of our local communities and I cannot thank them enough for the difference they have enabled us to make and continue to make to thousands of people each year.

it’s an absolute honour to lead such a wonderful organisation, I am very cognisant of the fact that not everyone has the chance to make a difference in the way that working at Myton has enabled me to do and I would like to thank everyone who has made that possible.

The biggest privilege of course for me is meeting so many inspirational patients and their families – the courage, love and even humour they show throughout the greatest of adversity is truly moving. There are obviously lots of tears at times but Myton is not sad place -how can it be when there is so much love and laughter every day.

Ruth’s decade of leadership has taken place during a period of profound challenge for hospices nationally, with rising demand, higher operating costs and a funding landscape that requires organisations like ours to generate the majority of their own income while adapting to evolving patient needs.

In 2015, Myton needed to raise £8 million to fund our work, supported in part by NHS contributions. Ten years on, the cost of delivering services has risen to £15.3 million a year, with £12.7 million needing to be raised through charitable income.

NHS funding now accounts for just 17% of our funding – a stark illustration of the increasing pressure facing hospices, many of which have experienced cuts, redundancies and threats to long-term sustainability.

Despite this challenging landscape, Ruth’s vision for the future is defined by determination and hope. At Myton, we remain committed to reaching more people earlier in their illness, widening access to essential palliative care, opening all 36 of our inpatient beds – 25 of which are currently operational – and reducing waiting lists so that no one goes without the support they urgently need.

As we look to the next decade, our priorities are clear: maintaining stability, expanding capacity and responding to rising demand. With a focus on access, service development and operational resilience, Ruth will continue to lead Myton as we fight to protect vital services, innovate to meet changing needs and ensure that everyone across Coventry and Warwickshire can access the compassionate palliative and end of life care they need and deserve.

Learn more about the services Myton provides HERE!