A Derbyshire hospice has announced plans to cut staff, among other cost-cutting measures, in a bid to save over £2.6m amid rising costs and claims of “unfairly low” NHS funding.
Ashgate Hospice, in Chesterfield, in the north of the county, announced yesterday that it had placed 52 of its 378 roles at risk of redundancy and warned that it would also have to “scale back” on some of its beds and other services offered.
The charity provides palliative care services to around 2,600 patients per year. Under the cost-cutting measures, the hospice would see 600 fewer patients per year.
The proposed redundancies would impact various teams across the service, including therapy and counselling, as well as marketing, communications and HR teams, the charity said. No immediate changes will be made to patient care while a 30-day consultation is carried out.
In a statement, Barbara-Anne Walker, the hospice’s chief executive, described the cuts as “heartbreaking choices, but necessary to protect Ashgate’s future”.
The hospice has launched a campaign called Act Now for Ashgate, calling for the public's support.
On Wednesday, Toby Perkins, the Labour MP for Chesterfield, described the situation as “utterly unacceptable” and said he was in discussions with local NHS bosses to discuss “urgent action” to safeguard the charity.
Local NHS contribution to charity ‘unfairly low’
The hospice cited inflation, rising energy bills, and staff salaries as contributors to rising running costs.
It is currently running at a cost of £18.5m a year, with cash reserves "critically low", Walker added.
In light of the hospice’s high costs, it had already cut its 21 available beds to 15 due to insufficient funding and had proposed to reduce these further to six.
Walker told the BBC that while costs had increased, local NHS contribution to the charity had remained "unfairly low".
She added: “We have been speaking to the local NHS for months now to prevent this happening – including highlighting how specialist end-of-life care is fully funded by the NHS in south Derbyshire, while here in the north we have to ask the local community to make up a huge shortfall."
Amanda Sullivan, chief executive of NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), said she was sorry to learn of Ashgate Hospice’s situation and that the ICB had been working with the charity to better understand why its costs had risen sharply.
“We believe the level of funding we provide to Ashgate Hospice is fair when compared with benchmarks for the hospice sector nationally and it is also in line with NHS England guidance,” she added.
“Our core contract value with Ashgate Hospice has increased in value by 55% since 2022/23. The request for a multi-million pound increase in funding during this financial year is especially difficult and at a time when the whole health system is under extreme financial pressure, and when no additional services would be provided.”
MP: ‘Funding settlement will not come soon enough’
But local MP Perkins said in a statement that in common with other hospices, Ashgate had been “underfunded over several years [and] reached a point where this is no longer sustainable, and they require a new funding settlement from the [integrated care board]”.
“I have spoken to the new NHS ICB Cluster Chief Executive on Monday to make it clear that I, and other Derbyshire MPs, believe it is utterly unacceptable that an outstanding hospice should be in a situation where they have no choice but to announce job cuts and to close more specialist beds when the care they provide is outstanding and so highly valued by everyone in our community,” he added.
“The Labour Government has provided an additional £100m in funding for hospices this year and with a new budget to come next month there is a plan to start clawing back the position hospices have found themselves in, but that will not come soon enough to save these beds and jobs and so we need urgent action now.”
Earlier this month, the government announced a further £80m funding boost specifically for children’s and young people’s hospices.
