Leading organisations in the hospice sector have warned that they face an uncertain future as plans have been announced by some centres to scale back activities and make redundancies, despite demand for the serices continuing to rise.
End of life care is currently funded mainly by 'people hosting bake sales, running marathons and shopping in hospice charity shops' said James Sanderson, Chief Executive at Sue Ryder, a palliative care and bereavement charity. This is a 'precarious and unsustainable' method of funding for an essential part of health care, he said.
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Chief Executive of St Catherine’s Hospice in West Sussex and Surrey, Giles Tomsett, said that the Government’s financial contribution only covered 23% of total running costs, and this had not kept up with inflation over the past decade.
St Giles Hospice, in the West Midlands, is expecting a deficit of £1.6m this financial year. They have begun a reduction of 40 jobs, including clinical roles, as well as cutting the number of beds from 23 to 15.
The CEO of Hospice UK, Toby Porter, warned that due to the 'small and wildly variable amount of state funding they receive', many hospices are running deficits, particularly those established in communities in more deprived parts of the UK.
In research published in July , Hospice UK found 1 in 5 hospices in the UK are cutting services, including jobs and beds, due to insufficient funding from the Government.
'End-of-life services are being slashed due to a broken funding system,' Hospice UK said, 'and pressure will increase on hospitals and other NHS providers if hospices remain underfunded.'