A HOSPICE charity which has supported hundreds of Teesside families is still seeing a hit to donations years on from its disgraced former boss being jailed.

Butterwick Hospice has facilities in Stockton, Bishop Auckland, and Weardale – offering specialist care for those with life-limiting illnesses. 

But the well-known charity has seen a troubled recent past with critical Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections and the departure of senior staff during the pandemic. 

Former chief executive Graham Leggatt-Chidgey was jailed for four years in 2018 after defrauding the charity by using its credit card for his personal expenditure over nearly eight years.

Current chief executive Debbie Jones told Stockton’s adult social care select committee how the charity had tried to move on – but the episode still cast a shadow over its image. 

Read more: Butterwick Hospice in Stockton is rated 'inadequate' again by CQC

“We’ve moved on but not necessarily everyone else has moved on,” said Ms Jones. 

“We were constantly trying to diminish the impact of it – it will take a long time because it does stick in people’s minds.”

Allana Massingham, from Butterwick, told the panel they wanted to “look forward”.
She added: “We have all of that to overcome but it’s about how we portray ourselves, looking at our improvement process, and being truthful and transparent.

“It’s looking forward as opposed to looking back but acknowledging there’s still a lot of work to do to try and overcome that.”

Mary Butterwick sold her home and put all her savings into buying a crumbling property on Hartburn Lane, in Stockton, to create the John Butterwick Day Care Centre in 1984. 

The charity has helped hundreds of Teessiders care for their loved ones at the end of their lives for more than 30 years.

Mr Leggatt-Chidgey was ordered to pay back more than £140,000 in 2019 after it was uncovered he’d spent more than £30,000 on hotels, more than £20,000 on travel tickets, and £18,000 on designer clothes and jewellery.

At the time of his arrest, the hospice said it had seen a big fall in donations. Cllr Steve Matthews asked about the reputational damage the charity had suffered in the years that followed  – and the financial impact they still faced. 

Ms Jones said it was still going to take time.

The chief executive added: “We still have people who stop at our fundraisers who say ‘we’re not going to give you any money because you’re a bunch of criminals’ – which is very demoralising.

“However, it’s difficult to see because covid hit and our income stopped overnight with no events and our shops couldn’t open – 50% of our income stopped.

“It’s whether it’s the impact of that – we’re not really sure on.

“We’re starting to climb back up but it’s really challenging.”

Councillors were also keen to find out what the well-known charity was doing to improve in the wake of an inadequate rating from the CQC last year.

Panellists heard how the charity was in a “difficult position” at the moment. 

But work to improve was continuing – and leaders were confident they could turn around their latest inadequate rating. 

Ms Jones said the challenging situation before she joined the charity had hit their perception in the public eye. 

She added: “We struggled financially to recover from that – it meant a lot of our focus was on looking at our reputation and the financial side of the organisation.

“We’d made an assumption our care was good as previously we’d been rated as good, so when the CQC came in November 2019 our expectation was we would still be good.

“We were given the impression from the inspector we’d get “requires improvement”, which felt ok because it identified some issues. 

“When we actually got the report in March 2020 we were rated inadequate. 
“That resulted in the director of care resigning and two weeks after the report was published, we went into lockdown.”

More senior staff then left the charity in a period of three to four months which “significantly hampered” efforts to improve, the panel heard.

Ms Jones said the care watchdog flagged up “mostly system and process issues”. 

She added: “The problems are around our systems in place to demonstrate that we deliver good care – there’s never been a question over the care and we haven’t harmed anybody.

“However, we haven’t been able to demonstrate we’re competent in the areas they’ve required us to be.” 

Read more: Conditions imposed on Butterwick Hospice as it continues to breach regulations

Recruitment pressures with pay rates the charity could offer and stresses of the pandemic have also taken the toll, the committee heard. 

However, councillors praised the charity for its efforts over the years. And charity leaders were bullish about the Butterwick’s next commission inspection.

Cllr Ray Godwin asked: “Are you confident the next time you visit us, the CQC’s report will be vastly improved?” 

“Yes,” said Ms Jones.

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