Dr Karen Groves MBE

Queenscourt Hospice
Community Leader – Finalist

Dr Karen Groves identified the need for better end of life care after experiencing two particularly traumatic deaths in young women. After seeking advice from Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the hospice movement in London, Dr Groves and her sister inspired people to begin fundraising. Planning permission for Queenscourt Hospice was granted in December 1988. Queenscourt opened on 1st June 1991. Dr Groves was a volunteer doctor at the hospice for five years, while working full time as a GP. She was appointed Medical Officer in 1995, became the first local consultant in Palliative Medicine in 1996 and in 2014 was awarded an MBE for Services to Palliative Care.