Devon’s biggest hospice has warned it is facing a looming crisis due to the twin threat of a disparity in how government funding is awarded and the rising costs of delivering services.
The hospice for Exeter, central and eastern Devon receives an unfair level of funding when compared to other hospices across the UK, with it receiving half the average of other charities in the same sector.
In a stark message, Andrew Randall, Chief Executive of Hospiscare, warned: “Residents in our area deserve the very best care at the end of their lives and it’s not right that existing services should be cut.”
For over 40 years, the Hospiscare charity has provided specialist end-of-life care for people living with terminal illnesses across 1,028 square miles of Devon. But now – despite the difference the hospice makes to the lives of many Devonians and the determined support of thousands of local people – the hospice is facing a £2.5 million funding gap which could force it to axe services.
The hospice costs almost £10 million a year to run and has to raise 82% of that amount through charitable fundraising every year itself, with the Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB), its local statutory funding body, providing just 18%* from government funds.
Explaining the disparity in funding, Mr Randall explained: “Our hospice receives just 18% of its running costs from the Devon ICB, compared to the national average of 37%*.
“Despite looking after thousands of patients over a huge area stretching from Axminster to Okehampton and from Topsham to Tiverton, Hospiscare receives one of the lowest percentages of government funding in the country. Unless the Devon ICB increases our funding in line with other hospice providers, we’ll sadly be forced into reducing our services.”
He added the inequitable funding from the Devon ICB plus rising bills, an increase in complex care cases, and a fall in donations due to the cost-of-living crisis, has had a devastating impact on the hospice’s finances.
Mr Randall explained:
“We’ve had frank discussions over the last 18 months with the Devon ICB about increasing our funding in line with the national average but so far they have refused. It doesn’t make sense because if we have to reduce our services, it will put even more pressure on NHS services and our NHS colleagues locally.”
The hospice has now launched a campaign, urging its supporters to write to the Chair and CEO of the ICB to ask them to fund Hospiscare fairly so it can continue to provide its outstanding-rated care to local patients and families living with terminal illnesses.
The hospice’s award-winning team of doctors, nurses, therapists and paramedics operate an inpatient ward with 12 beds, outpatient services and a community nursing service for over 2,200 patients on average each year. The charity’s mission is to make every day matter for people facing terminal illnesses and its services are rated as five-star by the hospice’s patients and their families.
Nick Frost, a trustee at Hospiscare, experienced the hospice’s care first-hand when his wife Emma died of pancreatic cancer, aged 38. Mr Frost said: “I’m endlessly grateful for the outstanding support the hospice receives from local people, who generously donate toward and fundraise for our much-needed services, and to all the people who shop in the Hospiscare charity shops, play the hospice lottery and take part in our events.
“Every single contribution makes an incredible difference to our patients and their families every day, but £2.5 million is simply too much of a gap for fundraising alone to bridge.
“That’s why we’re calling on Devon ICB to step up and fund the hospice more fairly. Time is of the essence as the hospice will have to review its services from April if nothing changes.”
Toby Porter, CEO of Hospice UK said: “Hospiscare provides vital support to dying people and their families across Devon. The data is clear – Hospiscare is currently receiving very little government funding in comparison to the national average. This seems arbitrary and unfair.
“Like other hospices, Hospiscare is providing essential services for some of the most vulnerable people in society, those at the end of their lives or grieving. It is hard to see why they wouldn’t be properly supported by Devon ICB to do this. It is not realistic for the ICB to expect hospice donors to dig deeper and deeper to pay for costs that should be met by central funding.
“ICBs have a duty to ensure palliative and end-of-life care in their area is well funded. Hospice UK has been warning for over a year about the impact that insufficient government funding will have on essential hospice services. It’s getting critical.”
To help the hospice campaign for fairer funding, local people can download a letter from www.hospiscare.co.uk/fair to email to Devon ICB by 15 December 2023, explaining why the hospice is worth funding.
*Figures are based on data collected from hospices nationwide by Hospice UK, the national membership body for hospices, and Hospiscare’s audited accounts for the financial year 2021-22.