Hampshire hospice digging into reserves to meet increasing demand
The charity receives a small amount of government funding but relies heavily on the generosity of donors to deliver its full service
A Hampshire hospice says it's digging into its reserves to meet the increasing demand.
In a recent report, costs are being found to be rising by around 15%, and Naomi House and Jacksplace Hospice say their costs have risen by a third.
The hospice say they want to ensure they're providing the best care possible for their young adults, children and families.
Paul Morgan, Director of Fundraising and Communications, said: "We have some really ambitious plans to ensure that we're providing the best care possible for our children, young adults and their families.
"That involves continuing to develop our services, and that's not just services here in the Hospice, it's what we do for people at home as well as the amazing services we provide here.
"In order to do that, we work with our care colleagues to establish really clear plans, and we work with our NHS to ensure that what we're delivering integrates as far as possible, but also adds to enable better quality of care and support.
"Unfortunately, because of the way things are, and we don't receive huge amounts of funding from the government, in fact we receive less than 15% of the funds we do receive, from the government.
"So one of the key principles is that we are a service that was founded in the community, supported by the community, and continues to need the support of the community to be able to do what we do."
The charity receives a small amount of government funding but relies heavily on the generosity of donors to deliver its full service, and they say staff can be difficult to recruit and retain.
All of these demands mean the charity is using its reserves to meet a planned deficit of £1.4 million this year.
Katie Lumsden, Director of Finance at Naomi House and Jacksplace, said: “Keeping a charity like ours operating at such a high level of care is a financial balancing act.
"Every pound and every penny has to work as hard as possible.
"Rising costs are putting us under strain.
"Government funding hasn’t kept pace with rising demand and increased running costs.
"While our charitable expenditure has increased by 31% since 2020/21, local NHS funding from integrated care boards is 25% lower.
"Add to this the cost of recruiting and keeping skilled staff and it means our overheads are even higher.
"We can operate at a deficit and still deliver the level of care families across the area need, but we can’t do this forever.”
The government have issued a response.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Hospices do incredible work to support people and families when they need it most, and we recognise the incredibly tough pressures they are facing.
“This government made the biggest investment in hospices in a generation - £100 million – to improve hospice facilities and has committed to £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over three years.
“We will also publish a plan to transform palliative care nationwide, ending the postcode lottery so every patient and family receives the quality support they deserve."