‘Hospices relying on greater income from charity shops than Government funding’

Hospices have warned they are facing “unsustainable” financial pressures as they revealed they are having to rely on a larger income from their charity shops than the funding they are getting from Government.

While hailing the charity shop intake as “incredible”, Hospice UK said its second-hand shops and other local fundraising cannot be expected to plug what it projected to be a £60 million funding gap in hospice care this year.

The organisation, which represents more than 200 hospices across the UK, said their research estimates 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.

Hospice UK said gross income from retail amounted to £504 million in the year to March, surpassing the gross income from Government which it said came to £466 million in the same period.

The end-of-life care charity 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”.

In July, the charity 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, resulting in inpatient beds being reduced, staff being made redundant and community services being restricted, with fewer visits to dying patients in their own homes.

Westminster will play host to a pop-up charity shop on Thursday, to mark Hospice Care Week, with the aim of getting MPs’ support for their funding calls.

Sarah West (pictured), director of external affairs at the charity, said: “While it’s incredible to see how much is being raised by hospice charity shops, the astronomical amount of stock that needs to be sold to keep hospices going highlights how unsustainable it is to finance the sector in this way.

“Hospices are having to make impossible decisions about the services they can afford to provide, including making frontline staff redundant, and closing or reducing some services.

“This not only puts more strain on the already over-stretched NHS, but also risks leaving many without access to care they so desperately need and deserve. Inaction is not an option.

“Hospices simply cannot sustain services that cost more and more to run, without meaningful support from Government. It’s time for Government to urgently address the funding model to avoid a devastating future for the sector, and for those who need its vital care.”

Eva Trowers, a nurse at St Christopher’s Hospice, said: “On a normal day I’m visiting people in their own homes and working alongside a dedicated team to deliver high quality end of life care.

“But this week I’m heading to parliament to tell policy makers how vital hospice and palliative care is to people and why we need a better funding model.

“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.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This Government has inherited huge challenges in the hospice sector, as well as a £22 billion 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.”

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