Sarah-Jane Mills Director of Service Development and Delivery

About me

Sarah-Jane is a GenerationQ Fellow and Director of Service Development and Delivery of Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group.

At the time of her fellowship, Sarah-Jane was the Chief Executive of independent charity St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice. Her role included working with colleagues from the NHS, social services and national charities to promote the development of palliative and end of life care services.

After qualifying as an occupational therapist in 1987, Sarah-Jane went on to specialise in psychiatry and worked in acute mental health and secure units in London. She moved into general management in 1995 and in 2001 she became a director of a mental health trust in London, where she led a £12 million project to extend the local medium secure services so that patients could be cared for closer to their families.

In 2004, Sarah-Jane relocated from London to Lincolnshire and took on the role of director of an acute hospital for United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. She moved to her role at St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice in 2006.

She has a postgraduate diploma in management studies and has also completed leadership training with Common Purpose.

Going into the GenerationQ fellowship, one of Sarah-Jane’s aims was to develop her theoretical understanding of different approaches to leading and managing people. She’s now applying this knowledge to create a more inclusive leadership structure at St Barnabas Hospice.

'Our organisational structure is very traditional and hierarchical, with fixed lines of accountability, and our work tends to be driven by managers. We’re making big changes by introducing a more fluid organisational framework that will empower staff and encourage individuals to take ownership of their areas of work. It’s an important step towards achieving our vision of being a clinically-driven organisation.'

Sarah-Jane says that the fellowship has renewed her confidence in the approach she intuitively takes to managing people and projects. 'GenerationQ has given me greater insight into my natural leadership instincts and has strengthened my belief that it’s important to push back on the system when you think that greater improvements can be achieved by working differently.

'I’ve never been afraid to put my head above the parapet but I now do it with greater confidence and purpose. I’m finding that people respond really well when I suggest a different approach or encourage experimentation - it energises them and unleashes their creativity. It’s having a profound effect on the way we work within our organisation and with external partners too.'