New research reveals ‘national funding crisis’ impacting end-of-life-care
Hospices across the country are making more money from charity shop profits than they received in Government funding, according to new research by Hospice UK.
St Christopher’s, in Lawrie Park Road, Sydenham, have warned that second hand shops cannot be expected to plug what it projected to be a £60million funding gap in hospice care this year.
Hospice UK – which represents more than 200 hospices including St Christopher’s – said gross income from retail amounted to £504million in the year to March, whilst the gross income from the Government came to £466million in the same period.
The end of life charity said its research estimates that hospice charity shops would have to sell 5,375 pairs of jeans to fund a palliative care nurse for a year and a 43,000 blouses to cover a bed for a patient for the same period.
Tom Abbott, director of communications and income generation at St Christopher’s, said: “Although it’s fantastic to see how popular hospice charity shops are across the country, it is not a sustainable funding model.
“Hospices are now increasingly relying on the goodwill of their supporters to maintain frontline services. This is unacceptable.
“We have a crucial role to campaign for the government to fix end of life care funding. Standard funding should be agreed for per person across the country so that no matter where they are, everyone receives the same support.”
Hospice UK is urging emergency support from Government to “stem the tide of hospice cutbacks”, and called for funding reform to ensure they are “fairly funded for the services they provide”.
As part of the campaign, Eva Trowers, senior nurse and Clinical Team Lead at St Christopher’s, will meet with politicians at a St Christopher’s pop-up charity shop in Westminster on Thursday, to highlight the issue.
She said: “We will all die and we should all have the opportunity to have palliative care when we need it.
“We need this new model so we can continue to invest in our workforce and care so that everyone can have access to high quality end of life care and die well in the place that they want to be.”
In July, Hospice UK warned that the sector’s finances are in their worst state for 20 years, with at least a fifth of hospices having cut their services in the past year or planning to do so.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “This government has inherited huge challenges in the hospice sector, as well as a £22billion black hole in the public finances, so these problems will take time to fix.
“Whilst the majority of palliative and end-of-life care is provided by the NHS, we recognise the vital role voluntary organisations including hospices play in providing support to people at end of life and their families.
“We are determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.”
Pictured top: St Christopher’s staff and a patient (Picture: Rachel Manns)