Funding crisis could force hospice to close its doors
NELSON Mandela Bay’s St Francis Hospice is in such dire straits it could deplete its funds and shut its doors within a year if it cannot find new funding alternatives soon.
This is according to hospice executive director Trevor Wiblin, who said yesterday the organisation would have the first of several staff consultation meetings today to discuss cost-saving methods in efforts to keep the home-based palliative care institution open.
Wiblin, 65, said general funding for hospices and non-profit organisations had been moved away from metropolitan areas in the past few years and was now more focused in rural areas. All funding for the organisation was a result of corporate donations or fundraising efforts.
“That has marginalised us in the metro and urban areas. What it means is that we will have to consider retrenchments as one of the cost-cutting options.”
The hospice, established in 1986, has about 600 patients and employs 77 staff members, 50 of whom are involved with patient care.
It also has a satellite centre in Humansdorp, which serves the Kouga area.
Wiblin said the hospice had been forced to draw on its reserves over the past 2½ years due to a lack of funding.
“Now we have to cut our coat according to our cloth. And the tragedy is not about people losing their jobs, which is sad enough, but what is really tragic is that we are going to have to cut back our services and cannot look after the 600 or more patients we currently have.
“It would be even worse if we were to shut down. The patients would suffer. We are looking after all these patients and the government provides little support, which is a travesty.
“It is something we have been fighting for years. And it’s not just us, but other NPOs [non-profit organisations] as well.”
The hospice, which has an operating budget of R10.9-million for the financial year ending in March, serves areas including Motherwell, New Brighton, Zwide, the northern areas and Walmer.
It serves patients with cancer, HIV/Aids, motor neurone disease and tuberculosis as well as other illnesses.
Wiblin said 80% of the budget was used for salaries.
He said non-profit organisations were caught in the middle between government and big corporates, which each believed funding should come from the other. “This is the situation we find ourselves in. We have had wonderful support from our St Francis trust, but that is also not a bottomless pit of reserves. We can’t keep drawing from it.
“So now we have reached a point where we have to cut back and make our service smaller.
“We would rather see hospice continue providing quality service, even if it means to fewer people, than to see it disappear off the face of the earth.
“If we keep going at this rate for another year, we would deplete the trust and probably be shut down in nine months.”