'The Government doesn't fund hospices enough'

The government does not provide enough funding for hospices, according to the outgoing boss of a Derbyshire site who is calling for more financial support for end of life care.

Julie Heath, CEO of Treetops Hospice in Risley, told the BBC that hospices across the country were in "real difficulty" due in part to changes to National Insurance, and donations being hit by cost-of-living pressures.

The Department for Health & Social Care said it "recently announced the largest investment in hospices in a generation".

Ms Heath, who joined as a trustee 22 years ago and later became the CEO in 2018, said she would miss the job terribly but added it was "time to retire".

Back in December, the Government announced hospices in England would receive £100m of government funding over two years to improve end-of-life care.

Another £26m is planned for hospices for children and young people, which is a continuation of money previously given through a grant.

It came after hospice leaders warned they were forced to close beds due to increasing financial pressures.

But Ms Heath said the majority of hospice funds came through individual donations and sites did not have a lot of people of "high net worth" supporting them.

"There is a real challenge about finances, the Government doesn't fund us enough - we get about 18% of our money from them," Ms Heath said.

"There's the cost of living and I wish we could pay our fantastic staff more and pay them what they're worth.

"We've been hit by National Insurance, increases in the minimum wage and people don't have as much money to contribute to our services.

"It is a threat and lots of hospices are in real difficulty."

Ms Heath added the hospice for which she worked did not have the same pressures as other hospices as Treetops was not a bedded unit but it was "forever having to ask the community to support us".

Ms Heath has a background in social services and was a manager at Derbyshire County Council before being invited on to the hospice's board of trustees.

She said when she first started there were three members of paid staff - now there were 160, plus 600 volunteers and 19 shops.

She added she had seen the hospice grow from providing 20 hours of nursing care to patients each week to one which provided more than 22,000 hours to patients every year.

The hospice was also chosen to appear on BBC's DIY SOS where workers created a new children's counselling and therapy centre to provide support for bereaved young people.

"More than 1,000 people helped to build that building for free and that's one of my proudest moments... those people were there for their love for Treetops," Ms Heath added.

On the subject of advice to her successor she said: "Treetops is a business, but it's a business with the heart of a charity.

"I'd say stick to our mission, don't forget what we are for, we are here to help people at the end of their lives and for their loved ones through difficult times."

A Department for Health & Social Care spokesperson said: "Hospices carry out incredible work and that's why we recently announced the largest investment in hospices in a generation.

"This £100 million funding boost will ensure staff have the best environment to care for patients.

"We are working to make sure the sector is sustainable overall in the long term, shifting healthcare out of hospitals and into the community through our Plan for Change."

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