Hospice charity to shed jobs due to 'rising costs'

A hospice charity in Lincolnshire says it needs to shed jobs and cut costs to avoid going into deficit.

St Barnabas Hospice is asking staff to consider "voluntary resignation" to address "growing financial pressures".

Becky Franks, director of patient care, said the charity was "taking action now" to ensure "we're still here in 40 years".

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had "recently announced the largest investment in hospices in a generation".

The charity provides services including palliative and end-of-life care and has two in-patient units, one in Lincoln and another in Grantham.

It said 44% of funding came from the government and the rest through fundraising.

But it warned that running costs had hit £40,000 a day, partly because of rises in energy costs, the Living Wage and National Insurance employer contributions.

It said expenses were now outstripping income, though Ms Franks said she could not give exact figures.

However, she said the rise in the Living Wage would cost the charity up to £350,000 more per year.

"Times are tough, but we are still open for business and caring for patients and we want to continue doing that," she said.

"Hospices provide outstanding care and if they're not funded properly they will be reducing their services."

Ms Franks declined to comment on how many of the 300 staff could leave, but said each resignation offer would be "assessed on a case-by-case basis".

In February, the charity was given a government grant of £236,000 to be spent on building upgrades and refurbishments as part of nationwide investment. The charity said that money could not be spent on staff or services directly.

In a statement, DHSC said it had given hospices a £100m funding boost, of which £25m had "already gone to hospices" to improve facilities.

"We are working to make sure the palliative and end-of-life care sector is sustainable in the long term, and this government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community through our plan for change," the statement added.

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