Prospect Hospice is calling on people to ask their MPs to protect hospice care.
The plea comes amid what the Wroughton-based charity describes as a £1m hole in its funding for the year.
The situation has prompted what hospice chiefs describe as tough decisions such as reducing the number of inpatient beds from eight to six.
On Monday 15 April, MPs will be discussing hospice funding in Parliament during a backbench business debate, and the hospice says it needs MPs to speak up and protect local hospice care.
Chief Executive Jeremy Lune said in a blog post: "I’ve been in post as Chief Executive for a year now. During this time, I’ve seen the impact the care of our dedicated staff and volunteers has on people with a life-limiting illness. This is why it’s so hard for me to say that Prospect Hospice is under threat and in urgent need of a lifeline.
"This is no reflection of how hard our team is working to provide care for local people and their families. It’s down to the financial challenges we face, as people’s ability to give is affected by the cost-of-living crisis, and the NHS funding, falls far short of what’s needed.
"While the demand for and cost of delivering our care increases rapidly, the funding we get from the government has remained flat for more than 10 years, meaning in real terms, that we get less year on year.
"This situation is simply not sustainable. To keep providing our vital services, we are having to make difficult decisions.
"We have reduced the number of beds in our inpatient unit to six, despite having room for 12. This is devastating for all of us who strive to offer end-of-life care to everyone in our community. This decision, as hard as it has been, isn’t enough, as we still go into the new financial year with a £1 million hole in our finances – out of the £8.5 million it costs to run the hospice each year.
Our hope is that changes like these are short-term measures. But to survive and grow our services to meet the increasing demand, we need funding we can rely on."
The blog post, information about supporting Prospect Hospice and a downloadable email suitable to be sent to MPs can be found at www.prospect-hospice.net
The situation has prompted what hospice chiefs describe as tough decisions such as reducing the number of inpatient beds from eight to six.
On Monday 15 April, MPs will be discussing hospice funding in Parliament during a backbench business debate, and the hospice says it needs MPs to speak up and protect local hospice care.
Chief Executive Jeremy Lune said in a blog post: "I’ve been in post as Chief Executive for a year now. During this time, I’ve seen the impact the care of our dedicated staff and volunteers has on people with a life-limiting illness. This is why it’s so hard for me to say that Prospect Hospice is under threat and in urgent need of a lifeline.
"This is no reflection of how hard our team is working to provide care for local people and their families. It’s down to the financial challenges we face, as people’s ability to give is affected by the cost-of-living crisis, and the NHS funding, falls far short of what’s needed.
"While the demand for and cost of delivering our care increases rapidly, the funding we get from the government has remained flat for more than 10 years, meaning in real terms, that we get less year on year.
"This situation is simply not sustainable. To keep providing our vital services, we are having to make difficult decisions.
"We have reduced the number of beds in our inpatient unit to six, despite having room for 12. This is devastating for all of us who strive to offer end-of-life care to everyone in our community. This decision, as hard as it has been, isn’t enough, as we still go into the new financial year with a £1 million hole in our finances – out of the £8.5 million it costs to run the hospice each year.
Our hope is that changes like these are short-term measures. But to survive and grow our services to meet the increasing demand, we need funding we can rely on."
The blog post, information about supporting Prospect Hospice and a downloadable email suitable to be sent to MPs can be found at www.prospect-hospice.net
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