Current boss Maddie Blackburn is leaving the post due to family circumstances that were unforeseen when she joined a year ago.

But charity workers will be welcoming a familiar face when long-term supporter and current appeals and communications director Robert Breakwell takes up the helm in February.

Mr Breakwell, aged 51, has been associated with the hospice for more than 20 years and accepted the top position following a unanimous decision by the charity's trustees to invite him to lead the organisation.

The father of two grew up in Berkhamsted where he attended Ashlyns School and went on to have a business career in the office furniture industry.

However, the tragic loss of his first wife Karen, who died of cancer in 1988, led to a change in priorities and career.

Karen was cared for by the Iain Rennie nurses and Mr Breakwell's great passion for and belief in hospice at home care stems from his own personal experience.

He has since remarried and lives in Aston Clinton with his wife Diane and two children Guy, aged 14 and Eleanor, aged 10.

Mr Breakwell founded the highly successful Sgt Pepper concerts in Berkhamsted, which led to the establishment of The Pepper Foundation, a separate charity, in the mid 1990s.

The foundation has raised more than £2million and for many years has been the main fundraiser for the Pepper children's nursing team.

After working with the IRHH as a volunteer and a trustee, Mr Breakwell took up the post of appeals director in 1995. Since that time he has been responsible for the hospice's growing charitable income from £80,000 in 1994 to more than £2million in 2008.

Since 2000, he has been a joint deputy chief executive working alongside the organisation's director of nursing Sue Varvel.

He said: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead an organisation which does truly remarkable work caring for a growing number of patients and families each year.

"The Iain Rennie Hospice at Home's strength comes from its people who share a common purpose in working together to deliver excellent care to terminally ill patients across the Chilterns area.

"Our nurses provide a vital service which is set to grow over the coming years in the light of the government's End of Life Care strategy. I shall work tirelessly to build on the great achievements of my colleagues and predecessors as the IRHH moves into a new phase of its evolution."