Severn Hospice faces £1m rise in costs

The boss of a Shropshire hospice said it was expecting costs to rise by £1m next year.

Heather Tudor, chief executive of Severn Hospice, said like others it was facing a big rise in energy bills, while inflation was affecting almost everything it bought in.

She said as a result the charity would have to use its reserves.

With donations accounting for two-thirds of its funding, she described the increase as "worrying".

Ms Tudor added that the high bills followed swiftly on the heels of the pandemic, when the hospice's ability to fundraise was limited as it had to close charity shops and could not hold events.

"As a healthcare organisation we don't have a customer base to pass those increased costs on to - our services are free at the point of delivery," Ms Tudor said.

"It is concerning, we can't stop caring and we have to continue to invest in our services because needs change and needs increase so it is a constant worry."

While patients would not be directly affected, she said in the short-term using reserves would limit the charity's ability to develop services and to maintain its sites in Telford and Shrewsbury.

Hospice UK, which comprises 200 UK hospices, previously warned hospices face "going bust" as the cost of living crisis bites, while NHS England said it was "undertaking extensive work" to review the way end-of-life care was funded.

"Our heating and our water, we have to have warm environments, we can't turn that down, we can't have our patients cold so that is our main concern really," Ms Tudor said.

"But at this point in time there is nothing significant we could do to reduce costs, we do consider ourselves to be a well-run and an efficient organisation."

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