Today — March 22nd — is the day our Government funding runs out. Which means that from tomorrow, and for the rest of the year, right up until New Year’s Eve, everything we do at St Mary’s will be paid for by our loyal and dedicated supporters.
We treat patients in the hospice and their own homes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Our care is always free to the user — but we need to raise millions of pounds in order to be able to provide it.
Hospices across the UK are funded differently, depending on decisions made my local regional NHS groups. This year we have has received 22% of our funding from Government — lagging someway behind the UK average, which is 30%.
St Mary’s Head of Communications, Karl Connor, said: “There is a looming funding crisis across palliative care in the UK. There aren’t enough clinical staff, and the rising cost of living has placed many organisations like ours in perilous positions.
“We’re really fortunate here in that we’ve got a very supportive community, and amazing teams running our fundraising and retail operations who manage, just about, to bring in the money we need to provide the high standard of care that people across South Lakes and Furness deserve.
“This year, with the cost-of-living-crisis, bringing in that money has been harder than ever, and our forecasts for the next three years show us running at a deficit. There are two ways to overcome that — we increase income, or we reduce costs.
“Reducing costs would mean not being able to help as many people as we do currently, and with demand for our services growing year-on-year, that isn’t something we want to contemplate, so we’re doubling down on increasing income.”
From now on the day our Government funding runs out will be known to us as ‘St Mary’s Day’ and we are working with partners, including Hospice UK, to lobby government and, we hope, push that date back from March later into spring or even early summer.
Hospice UK’s Chief Executive Toby Porter visited the hospice, in Ulverston, this week, to mark the first ‘St Mary’s Day’.
He told representatives of our board and senior management team about the national picture for their 200 plus members. Many of the challenges faced in Cumbria are mirrored across the country — but Mr Porter accepted that Cumbria has added complexity in its rurality, making it harder to attract and retain clinical staff.
Mr Porter said: “Like at every hospice I visit; I’ve been really inspired by the work that they do here at St Mary’s. That they get only 22% of their running costs covered by Government isn’t right. It’s a fantastic local community here and I’m grateful that they love and support St Mary’s, but the 22nd of March is far, far too early in the year for their central funding to run out. The government should do more, and we’re pressing them, on behalf of St Mary’s and all the other hospices in our network, to step up and do more.”
If you want to mark St Mary’s by making a donation, you can visit http://www.stmaryshospice.org.uk, where there are options to make a one-off or small monthly donation to help fund the services St Mary’s provide.
Karl Connor added: “One of the best ways people can support us, especially if things are tight in the current financial climate, is by remembering us in their will.
“You can leave just 1% to St Mary’s — meaning your family are taken care of with the other 99% — and if you already have a will, in most cases all you need to do is call your solicitor and leave our charity number details.”