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‘It’s difficult to forecast a way out’ – York hospice fears service cuts without government help

Sun 25 Jun

David Jones, director of finance at St Leonard's Hospice, York. Photograph: Adam Laver

Sun 25 Jun 2023  @ 4:45pm
Adam Laver - Local Democracy Reporter
News

The director of finance at a York hospice with a £1m deficit has urged the government to help before its services are affected.

David Jones manages St Leonard’s Hospice’s finances, a job that has become increasingly difficult as donations have declined and costs have risen.

The hospice has budgeted a deficit for this year until March 2024 of just under £1 million.

Government funding makes up 30 per cent of its budget, with the rest being donations.

Contributions from the government increased by 1.8 per cent to deal with recent inflation, a figure that simply doesn’t touch the sides, according to Mr Jones.

“We’ve got pressures coming from the cost-of-living crisis, which has pushed down donations by 1.5 per cent in the last year,” he said, adding that the day-to-day running of the charity has also increased.

“There are cost pressures upwards and income is falling.

“It’s really difficult for us to forecast a way out of it because there are lots of elements.

Donate to St Leonard’s Hospice here »

“People are feeling squeezed so they can’t spend money by donating to us or spend as much in our shops.”

Mr Jones can’t see a way out of the hospice’s financial issues without a significant increase in government help, particularly as homeowners come off fixed-term rates and are met with a huge rise in their living costs.

“If we moved towards 50 per cent [of our budget being government funded] then that would make the pressures on us a lot easier,” Mr Jones said while acknowledging that this was unlikely to happen.

“When you see people suffering with their mortgage rates increasing and they’re suddenly seeing a shortfall of £500 or £1,000 a month they’re not going to be able to donate as much.”

Scale back

St Leonard’s Hospice on Tadcaster Road, York. Photograph: YorkMix

At the moment, there’s no impact on the hospice’s services, but if it isn’t able to wipe out its deficit in three years, it will need to change how it operates.

Mr Jones said: “We are robust overall but we’re planning ahead and we’re looking at this forecast.

“We can sustain that for this year, but if we get to next year or the year after facing a similar deficit then we might have to plan ahead to scale back our services accordingly.”

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Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, raised the issues St Leonard’s is facing in parliament.

Mr Jones said: “That’s massive and when we see it being discussed in parliament and our hospice being mentioned, it’s fantastic that she’s supporting us in that way.”

He added: “Generally we don’t like talking about death and dying, so hospices don’t get talked about that much.

“I’d like to see it as more of a discussion.”

Ms Maskell said: “It is ridiculous to think that in a cost-of-living crisis, such a critical part of the health and care system, providing specialised care and support can be run on a shoestring.

“Rising costs present a huge challenge to the sector, completely outstripping the ability to raise money through fundraising or income from charity shops.”

St Leonard’s is not alone in this, as Hospice UK said 96 per cent of all hospices in the UK are budgeting for a deficit in 2023/24.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have made over £400m available to hospices since 2020 to secure and increase additional NHS capacity and enable hospital discharge, ensuring hospices can continue to deliver care to those who need it.

“Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations who remain free to set their own salary rates at their chosen level.”

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