Charity faces ruin as coronavirus hits vital fundraising
Ministers must answer this SOS
THE SUE Ryder charity has urged the public to provide “every bit of help” they can to support struggling hospices as a Yorkshire charity warned it is facing ruin.
The organisation, which was founded in Leeds and runs two hospices in the region, in Keighley and Headingley in Leeds, said that without funds, it will be forced to close its hospices and stop caring for people in their own homes within months.
It anticipates a £12m shortfall in the next three months, with fundraising events cancelled and its 450 shops shut during the coronavirus lockdown.
The national charity for hospice care, Hospice UK, said it was “very concerned” about the impact Covid-19 was having on hospices.
The director of campaigns and communications, Sarah West, said: “We are working closely with Government and hospices to find ways to address funding at this particularly difficult time and we urge the public to support your local hospice where you can. “Every bit of help is crucial.” The Sue Ryder charity said it has been calling on the Government for support for “several weeks” but no funding has materialised, and now out of “desperation” is turning to the public for help with an emergency appeal.
Charities across Yorkshire have launched similar appeals.
Sue Ryder chief executive Heidi Travis said: “We are a critical frontline support service in the fight against coronavirus yet we are on the brink of closure.
“We are all facing something we have never faced before and we are asking the public to give whatever you can afford to help us to help those who need it most.”
York-based St Leonard’s Hospice, which also provides palliative care at home, has urged supporters to donate as they face an “immediate and significant income challenge” after cancelling a number of fundraising events and closing 14 shops. Kirkwood Hospice in Huddersfield has also launched an emergency fundraising appeal to raise money towards the £20,000 a day it needs to operate.
The Government said it is liaising closely with charities and recognised the “vital role” the sector has to play in the fight against coronavirus.
THERE WAS already a compelling case – long before the coronavirus crisis – for the Government extending its support to the hospice movement.
The inspirational charities that provide such dignified care and comfort to the dying, receive just 30 per cent of funds from the Department of Health and Social Care – the remainder comes from the public’s enduring generosity.
Yet, as the Covid-19 leads to charity shops being shut and fundraising events cancelled, the sector’s ability to treat the terminally ill, and help relatives, is now compromised by this unfolding financial crisis.
And as the renowned Sue Ryder charity, which runs the much-loved Wheatfields Hospice in Leeds, warns that it is on the brink of closure, and the country “will lose its hospices” without emergency funding,
The Yorkshire Post today makes a direct appeal to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Provide the hospices with the funding that they need, just as you have supported other parts of the economy, to spare cancer patients, and others with terminal illnesses, unnecessary heartache about their care in the twilight of their lives.
If not, perhaps the two Ministers can explain how they expect families to cope if, as the Sue Ryder charity suggests, a £12m funding shortfall means that it has to close its hospices and stop its community care.
Frankly, it should not be coming to this – a compassionate government would already have acceded to recently submitted funding requests – but this newspaper is willing, just for now, to give Ministers the benefit of the doubt because of their workload until they do have a chance to respond fully.
Yes, the public will continue to be supportive but such benevolence cannot be counted upon at a time of hardship, hence why the Government must act without equivocation if it is to avoid accusations of betraying the dying.