Sheffield hospice warns about financial struggles after soaring costs
St Luke's says it hasn't seen funding increase at the same rate as essential costs
A hospice in Sheffield is warning it is struggling financially after soaring costs.
St Luke’s, in Little Common Lane, off Eccleshall Road South, says higher prices for essentials is outpacing its funding, despite strong public support and a new NHS contract.
The hospice, which has served the city for 55 years, says it’s now operating as leanly as possible to keep caring for patients.
The hospice's Executive Lead for Fundraising, Joasia Lesniak, has told us the hospice sector is facing a crisis with funding. She said: "This is due to costs surging as demand for our specialist end of life service is rising.
"As it stands, around 75% of hospices across the nation will report a significant deficit. We're not immune to that financial challenge.
"A lot of our costs are staff costs. It's an essential cost that we can't eliminate as we need people to deliver our service.
"These costs have been subject to considerable pay inflation and national insurance rises in the last couple of years and then the other costs that we know everyone is dealing with, like the cost of food, gas, electricity and medical supplies.
"All the essential costs are increasing at a greater rate that the funding is increasing."
Last year, the government put £100 million into hospice care nationally.