Two hospices raise fears about funding squeeze
TWO leading Tyneside hospice charities have shared “grave concerns” about a national funding squeeze.
Bosses at St Oswald’s and Marie Curie in Newcastle have both warned that rising costs and a huge deficit across the sector – with one suggesting that this puts the care provided in the sector at risk. This comes as the national Hospice UK organisation highlighted how there is estimated to be a “devastating” £77m financial deficit across hospices collectively around the country.
This comes against the backdrop of high inflation and staff costs rising. Hospices UK has said rising staff costs were a serious issue.
The Government said it had recently provided an extra £60m in funding to some hospices to go towards one-off payments to staff but in the sector years of belowinflation funding rises have been criticised. Last year, Hospice UK found funding had fallen £47m in two years, in real terms. There had been due to be a backbench business debate on this issue in the House of Commons on Monday, but this was postponed.
Steph Edusei - chief executive at St Oswald’s Hospice - said: “We very much welcome the Hospice UK Report which details the grave concerns we have around the lack of hospice funding across the UK.
“At St Oswald’s Hospice, around a third of our running costs to provide care to patients across the North East, comes from public funding. And this proportion is decreasing year on year, as the uplift is never in line with inflation. This then leaves around two-thirds to be financed by our dedicated community of fundraisers, donors and supporters.
“Any changes to the level of public funding we receive therefore puts an additional burden on our charitable giving. St Oswald’s Hospice joins calls to government to urgently address the reported £77m deficit UK hospices are facing,”
At Marie Curie, Victoria Wharton – the charities associate director for strategic partnerships and services in Yorkshire and the North East – said the fundraising demands were becoming ever-starker. She said: “Our hospice in Newcastle needs to raise over £9,100 every single day of the year to ensure that we stay open.
We achieve this thanks to the enormous goodwill of local people who tirelessly raise money to fund essential care for dying people.
“But this funding model is fragile. In comparison, maternity care is fully funded by the NHS. These two most important stages of life should be funded equally.”
She said that the palliative and end-of-life care had been “chronically underfunded for decades” and added: “This means that the care hospices provide and the value they bring to our wider health and care system is at risk. In an election year, we are asking all politicians to pledge their support to palliative and end of life care and commit to a long-term funding solution.”
Chief executive of Hospice UK, Toby Porter, said the last year had seen the sectors worst financial results in two decades - while others in the sector highlighted how the recent 1.2% Government funding increase was “not fair and not right”. This was said to be especially the case given the Hospice UK estimate that the sector’s payroll bill has rocketed 11% - costing £130m - over the last year.
Mr Porter added: “Many hospices are spending more on their care than they receive in income. Costs for hospices will keep rising and without a new model for funding end of life care, the coming years could be devastating for hospice care services,”
Adult hospices receive on average around one third of their funding from the State, with children’s hospices getting around a fifth, the rest is largely met through fundraising and charitable donations.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We want everyone to have access to the high-quality, personalised palliative care that can make all the difference at such a difficult time. That’s why we require all local NHS integrated care boards to commission end-of-life care services to meet their patients’ needs.
“While the majority of palliative and end-of-life care is provided via GPs, hospitals and community health services, we recognise the incredibly valuable role the charity sector plays in providing hospice care. The Government has provided £60m in additional funding, including to some hospices, to deliver oneoff payments to over 27,000 eligible staff employed by non-NHS organisations.”