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29

Dec 2023

Last Updated: 28/12/2023
Health
Health

North Yorkshire hospice CEOs warn of worsening funding crisis

by John Grainger

| 29 Dec, 2023
Comment

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stmichaelshospice
St Michael's Hospice in Harrogate.

The bosses of three North Yorkshire hospices – including St Michael’s in Harrogate – have met with council officials to highlight a worsening funding crisis in end-of-life care.

The chief executives of St Leonard’s Hospice in York, St Catherine’s Hospice in Scarborough, and North Yorkshire Hospice Care – which includes Saint Michael’s and Herriot Hospice in Thirsk – told North Yorkshire Council’s scrutiny of health committee that some services could be in jeopardy if more were not done to close a widening funding gap. 

The cost of providing the services across the three hospice organisations is currently around £20 million a year, and only 27% of that comes from the NHS. The remainder has to be raised through fundraising.  

The CEOs – Tony Collins of North Yorkshire Hospice Care, Emma Johnson of St Leonards Hospice, and Ray Baird of St Catherine’s Hospice – warned the problem stood to get worse as more people from the Baby Boom generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) increasingly needed the hospices’ services. 

Tony Collins told the Stray Ferret:

"We’re planning to extend our existing services, as well as introducing some new services, simply because there’s so much need out there.
"It’s almost harmful to introduce new services that you can’t sustain, so we shall be working very hard to get a fairer funding formula to enable us to do all this.
"The provision of palliative and end-of-life care is statutory, so we’re hoping for an increase in statutory funding from the NHS.
"Over the last year, the increase in our small amount of statutory funding has been just 1.8%, but during that time staff costs have risen by 7% and utility bills have seen double-digit percentage rises.
"Something needs to happen within the next one to two years."


He said the charity would try its best to raise as much as it could through traditional channels, but that had become increasingly difficult. He said:

"It’s been a really tough year. People have less money in their pockets, and corporate funding has also been pinched. Legacy funding, from people’s wills, is holding its own, but probate can take a long time, so we never know when we’re going to get it.


The chair of NYC’s scrutiny of health committee, Cllr Andrew Lee, said:  

“I think I speak for the whole committee when I say how shocked, saddened and concerned we are upon hearing the situation within our local hospices and the funding shortfall they face. 
“These hospices, and many others, provide a very important and much-needed support network both for patients and their families at a very sad and vulnerable time. 
“We must do all we can to raise awareness and support them to allow them to continue to provide this essential service.” 


The committee heard a number of factors were contributing to the situation, including lack of funding, increased running costs, reduced income from fundraising and differing funding models and contracts that provide income from the NHS. 

Cllr Lee said: 

“The committee and I fully appreciate that the country faces huge financial challenges. The cost of providing services across these three hospices is about £20 million, with more than 70 per cent of that having to be raised through fundraising alone. 
“I shall be highlighting this with my colleagues in the NHS as we need to ensure we are all doing our utmost to support and raise awareness of this situation.”