Hospices across the UK are having to make difficult decisions. St Catherine's Hospice is one of them.
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In early 2024, recognising the impact of rapid inflation (c.26%) since mid 2020 (the ‘cost of living’ impacts on costs, and donor propensity to be able to give) and with projected income from our two NHS statutory funding sources also adjudged to remain largely flat, the St Catherine's Hospice Board approved a cost reduction programme as the projection for voluntary income (then nearly 80% of their total) could not sustain their projected cost base (80% of which is staffing).
The Board approved a reduction programme and set a target to reduce all costs by some 12.5%. After consultation, 40 roles were removed.
As part of this, almost every team went through consultation to amend ways of operating while their entire community care model was revamped to set out a focus on specialist provision only.
The community care model pins into NHS Neighbourhood provision and has been largely successful though they remain under pressure to meet community demand. Bedded capacity stayed at 12 beds in operation and they continue to explore bringing a further 12 into permanent use (2 pilot programmes are ongoing at this time).
The Wellbeing model is also having to be reviewed afresh as the new community model means they are typically seeing patients later in the journey and it can be harder for these patients to access wellbeing support in a timely way. Work is therefore ongoing.
St Catherine's Hospice supporters were shocked that they were forced to make these cuts and it was announced on BBC news alongside Hospice UK. They have responded with great understanding to the arguments for fair funding and the (over) reliance on voluntary income.
