Two North East hospices are at crisis point, The Northern Echo can reveal, facing “unsustainable” financial pressures with “finite” charity reserves “fast running down”.
Chiefs at Teesside Hospice and Butterwick Hospice have warned that the sector could soon no longer be financially viable as hospices face a challenge to balance their books.
Butterwick Hospice is set to finish the financial year with a “significant deficit”, with chief executive Edward Gorringe warning that, unless additional funding is made available, the current hospice provision “will simply become unsustainable”.
Meanwhile, Middlesbrough-based Teesside Hospice has told of how it has been “rescued” by unexpected legacies left in wills in recent years with the charity consistently planning to spend more than the income generated.
The stark revelation comes as the sector faces a bleak future nationwide, with charity Hospice UK saying it has to rely on a larger income from charity shops than Government funding.
It argued that 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.
‘Only a matter of time’
This year, Butterwick Hospice is celebrating its 40 years since Mary Butterwick established the charity following the death of her husband John.
But sadly, decades later, Butterwick is now facing an uncertain future as it continues to operate in a “very difficult funding environment”.
The vital charity has a long-running association with The Northern Echo, which launched a campaign to raise money to complete the building of the children's wing in the days after Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
Mr Gorringe - who has been in the role since 2022 - said there is a likelihood that next year will see the hospice in a similar position as this financial year, finishing in a significant deficit.
This follows a turbulent few years for the charity, which saw a hit to donations after its disgraced former chief executive Graham Leggatt-Chidgey - who defrauded the charity by using its credit card for his personal expenditure over nearly eight years - was jailed.
Speaking of the current financial position of the hospice, Mr Gorringe said: “We have been absorbing these losses from our charitable reserves but unfortunately these are finite and fast running down."
“This situation is shared with all of our local hospices and reflects the national picture. Unfortunately, we have seen many press reports recently highlighting hospices that have had to reduce service availability, or indeed close completely.
“As a hospice, we are incredibly grateful to our many supporters in the community and world of business who provide the majority of funding, however, the current model of NHS funding is no longer fit for purpose.
“Unless additional funding is made available the current hospice provision will simply become unsustainable.”
Meanwhile, Teesside Hospice chief executive Mike Thornicroft told how “serendipitous” legacies were ensuring the charity could make a small surplus each year.
He said the hospice currently expects to spend around £600,000 more than it will earn from various income sources this year.
“It is a common misconception that the NHS funds the hospice entirely,” he said.
“In fact, the NHS funds approximately 25 percent (£1.6m) of our running costs, which means that each year we rely on our local community to contribute approximately £4.7m to enable us to balance the books. Without their support, we could not exist.
“This experience is replicated in many hospices across the country and all of the hospices in the North East and North Cumbria region, which are expecting to overspend this year.”
Mr Thornicroft, who took over from former chief executive David Smith earlier this year, said the hospice is “fortunate” to have reserves and can “absorb some overspending” after being buoyed by some recent legacies.
He continued: “Other hospices are not so fortunate.
“The NHS should be providing more funding to hospices, as all hospices provide support to people who would otherwise be using the NHS.
“However, due to their own financial constraints, the NHS continues to only fund a small proportion of hospice operating costs. If this continues it is only a matter of time before hospices will no longer be financially viable.”
Current model of NHS funding ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The recent admissions from the two North East hospices come less than two years since MPs called for more support for the sector in a letter.
At the time, Tees Valley MPs met with hospice chiefs in Parliament to discuss the lack of funding for hospices, warning of the “awful” consequences if the “much-needed and well-respected charities could not continue”.
But despite alarms being raised, concerns remain months on.
In July this year, Hospice UK warned that the sector’s finances were in their worst state for 20 years, with at least a fifth of hospices having cut their services.
The end-of-life charity urged for emergency support from the Government to “stem the tide of hospice cutbacks”.
The Department for Health said the Government had “inherited huge challenges” in the sector, saying the problems “will take time to fix” - but added it is “determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community”.
A spokesperson for NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) said: "The ICB recognises the scale of the challenges faced by many of our providers, including hospices and the vital care and support that they provide for patients and their loved ones.
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"Under The Health and Care Act 2022, ICBs have a legal duty to commission palliative care services. The need for good quality, community-based services is important in supporting people to achieve their preferred place of care, reducing the proportion of inappropriate hospital deaths, and ultimately supporting people to achieve their preferred place of death.
"This is a key priority for the NHS and is reflected in our Adult Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy. A key part of the strategy is a focus on specialist palliative care services provided by our hospices.
"We are fully committed to delivering on our strategy and are working closely with partners to agree funding, service models, contracting arrangements and importantly ensuring that we not only provide good quality, compassionate and caring services for our patients and their loved ones but that our hospices are sustainable for the future."
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