BARNSLEY Hospice bosses have issued a call to arms after revealing it is on course to lose £1m in the year ahead.
The Gawber hospice which provided care for almost 500 people with life-limiting illnesses last year needs to raise £3.5m every year to continue to provide care like it has done for the last three decades.
With just over a third of that coming from government funding, the rest has to come from the local community in the form of fundraising, donations and legacies.
And on the eve of Hospice Care Week which starts on Monday chief executive Martine Tune revealed that unless the government offers a more sustainable long-term funding deal, Barnsley Hospice faces a very uncertain future.
She told the Chronicle: “We are a charity and it is residents’ generosity and fundraising efforts that makes our care possible. We continue to focus our efforts on exploring all possible avenues of further income generation.
“However, if this substantial underlying financial deficit remains, we will be unable to sustain our services in their current form beyond the next 18 months without a long-term solution from the government.
“We are so very grateful for the support we get from the people of Barnsley who are incredibly generous to the hospice. However, like everyone, we are feeling the strain of rising costs for things like food, heating and electricity.
“It is costing us more to provide home-cooked nutritious meals and carry out essential building repairs. Similarly, we have made essential investment in our workforce in order to provide outstanding care which accounts for 84 per cent of expenditure.
“These are things we simply can’t cut down on.
“Only 38 per cent of or running costs are funded by the government and with costs rapidly increasing - donations, fundraising and gifts in wills have never been so important.”
The hospice has undergone a miraculous turnaround since Martine became its chief executive.
It was plunged into the Care Quality Commission’s lowest-rated category in 2021 and did not improve at its next inspection in January 2022.
However, by November 2022 it had been rated ‘outstanding’ and the turnaround has been widely praised - but it is constantly fighting a battle to raise enough money to keep its services running.( There are a number of ways that residents can support the hospice including making monthly donations, donating items to its Dodworth retail hub, offering your time as a volunteer, pledging a gift in your will, organising a fundraising event or even just showing your support on social media.
Martine added: “By donating today you’ll help us ensure that outstanding hospice care is available to the people of Barnsley.
“We can’t thank you enough for your support over the last 30 years and hope that with the generosity of our local community we can continue to provide the people of Barnsley with the palliative and end of life care they need and deserve for the next 30 years.”
