9 hours Ago
Many have struggled financially, with closing shops and events to save money. No more have struggled than St Catherine's hospice. St Catherine's is a national charity predominantly located in the south-east, helping to provide care to patients as well as support to their family.
Due to covid, they have been struggling for many years in order to help fund these services. Only recently have these problems been a major concern. They rely mainly on donations from the public in order to fund their shops and events.
The lack of funding from both the public and the government is the key reason as to why they are in this situation. Meaning nurses and support workers cannot achieve what they need to. According to St Catherine’s website, they find themselves with £1.
5 million in debt and they “need to find ways to make cost saving decisions to sustain their future services for people across West Sussex and East Surrey” with services such as care and support put at risk. This is the leading service that the hospice provides. According to St Catherine’s, as a care provider, over 77% of the current costs are staffing.
They expect to lose in excess of 40 roles from all staff including nurses and carers. Putting people in difficult situations, finding themselves with no one to care for them, especially at the end of their life. Rachel Reeves’ 2024 Autumn budget puts more financial pressure on charities than ever before.
Rises in national living wages and employer national insurance, puts charities like St Catherine’s in a dangerous position as they need to pay out more to keep providing services. Giles Tomsett, the hospice’s Chief Executive said, “Since May, we’ve made significant reductions to our support teams, reduced the hours of our community telephone advice line, and changed the way our therapy team operates”. This not only puts patients out of care it also means many job losses for nurses and carers that have spent many years in education to be in the role they are in today.
“Slimming down” the support teams means that the nurses and carers that used to be able to provide medical care can only offer advice to suffering families. The helplines which used to run 24/7 now only runs 8am-4pm weekdays, which leaves many hours out for people not to receive the necessary support they desperately need. St Catherine’s Hospice find themselves in a real financial problem, slashing services such as care and support in order to save money.
Putting long suffering patients and families in a more troubling and uncertain futures..
