Friend highlights plight of hospices
'Hospices rely typically on charitable donations for seventy to eighty per cent of their running costs.'
A Bolton Quaker has called for more funding for hospices, highlighting the financial strain many face. The call echoes warnings from Hospice UK that many providing end-of-life services in partnership with the NHS may have to shut beds and sack staff because of rising energy bills of up to 350 per cent. The charity says that many patients who receive palliative care at home are struggling to maintain optimal care standards because they can’t afford to run their required electrical medical equipment. Hospices rely typically on charitable donations for seventy to eighty per cent of their running costs, it said.
Writing in Hospice Journal, Rosie Adamson-Clark, from Bolton Meeting, said: ‘Many people do not realise that the hospice care, given so lovingly and freely, is, in fact, not an NHS provision. Hospices, as we patients and those who work in such places know, are a charity and rely on the goodwill of local people and a tiny bit of money from the statutory purse holders!… Hospitals are overcrowded and have huge waiting lists so there is “No room at the Inn” for those with end-of-life care needs or life-limiting condition needs.’
She added: ‘Hospices, like everything else these days, are in crisis, financial strains are pulling services apart… I just wish our government would recognise this and step up to the mark and offer some no-strings attached funding, so that hospices do not have to reduce services, or worst case scenario… close altogether.’
Molly Evans, media relations manager at Hospice UK, told the Friend: ‘At the end of March, the government reduced support for hospices with their energy costs. From April, hospices will receive only a modest discount – the same level as a pub or restaurant, and less than zoos and museums. But unlike businesses who can pass costs on to customers, hospices will have to fundraise more from local communities to cover this. The outlook is gloomy given people are also feeling the pinch and charity giving is expected to fall.’
Rosie Adamson-Clark has been receiving vital support at Bolton Hospice since she was given three months to live last summer. She has pledged to do as much as she can for the hospice before she dies. This month it will host a launch event for her poetry collection which includes work dedicated to her hospice. The launch should be featured on ITN and BBC Radio 4.
