Former Chief Executive of CHAS receives CBE at royal investiture ceremony

Maria McGill, the former CEO of Children's Hospices Across Scotland has been awarded a CBE in a ceremony held at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Maria, who lives in Edinburgh, was named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2020 for services to palliative and end-of-life care for children but was unable to receive her award in person until now because of the pandemic.

She was one of 115 individuals to finally receive their honours from Princess Royal, Princess Anne in the Capital on Wednesday 19 January.

A former frontline nurse, Maria has dedicated almost all of her career to the field of palliative and end of life care and led CHAS, Scotland’s only children’s hospice charity, through significant change from 2010 right up until her retirement in 2020.

An innovative leader, she commissioned the first country-wide dataset in the world showing the number of children with life-shortening conditions and their needs. This information was used to plan new services, increase the number of children and families supported and importantly to increase NHS funding.

Before moving into formal leadership roles, Maria was a caring and dedicated nurse, working in community and intensive care, moving into hospice care after.

Maria said: "I am proud and honoured to receive my CBE. It was an incredible privilege to serve CHAS, leading a wonderful team of staff and volunteers who are so dedicated to caring for children and families across Scotland.

“Children’s hospices are always about the art of the possible, working with families in the most difficult of times to create precious memories, the biggest of smiles, and moments of joy. I will always be deeply grateful for having had the opportunity to play a part in the story of CHAS."

Rami Okasha, who took over from Maria as CEO at CHAS in 2020, said: “This award for Maria is a remarkable recognition for her work with CHAS and children’s hospices and is truly deserved. Maria’s personal warmth, compassion and humanity underpinned everything she did to grow CHAS and reach all the children and families we support right across Scotland.”