\n The hospice, which offers palliative care and support to patients and their families in North Hertfordshire and Stevenage, revealed a significant funding shortfall in September.\n<\/p>\n
\n Now, a formal 30-day consultation on services has been announced.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lisa Hunt, the charity’s CEO, said: “A few weeks ago, we asked our community to stand with us once more as we faced a significant \u00a3750,000 funding gap this year – rising to \u00a31.1 million next year.\n<\/p>\n
\n “To date, we have received \u00a3134,075 in donations from those who heard our call. We are deeply grateful for your generosity and the belief you continue to show in us.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Sadly, despite this incredible support, it isn\u2019t enough. Today, we face the most serious challenge in our hospice\u2019s history.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The charity receives 29% of its total funding from the NHS for core hospice and health services that it commissions and funds on behalf of patients, leaving the hospice to raise the other 71% through donations.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Hunt said that there has been a decline in giving across the charity sector, and Garden House Hospice Care has been affected by this.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: “This leaves [us] with some difficult decisions to take now, to ensure that we will still be here to support our community this year and in the years to come.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We now have no choice but to act, so implementing a plan we never wanted to use is our only way of sustaining Garden House for the future.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are confident that taking immediate action will enable us to protect hospice care for our current and future patients and their families.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It is with great sadness, we are entering a formal 30-day consultation on services, which we expect could result in over 20 redundancies.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Our focus is on supporting patients, family members and colleagues through this uncertain time whilst we face our new reality.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Garden House Hospice Care’s full range of services will remain unchanged throughout the consultation period, Ms Hunt confirmed.\n<\/p>\n
\n She continued: “In the future, services may look different, structures may change, but one thing is for certain – our commitment to quality and compassionate care in the final phase and days of life for our patients, their families and carers remains our biggest priority.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Hunt said that “the silence from national decision-makers is deafening”, and that hospices across the UK have been warning of this crisis for years.\n<\/p>\n
\n She pointed to two-thirds of hospices facing a funding shortfall last year, and 40% of hospices this year being forced to cut services.\n<\/p>\n
\n She warned that “this is expected to rise”, adding: “This is not just a funding crisis – it is a care crisis.”\n<\/p>\n
More<\/p>\n
\n Ms Hunt said: “We vow to continue to put our patients first and to support them through any changes to their care.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are and will continue to do everything we can to minimise the impact on them and their loved ones.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The care we provide is irreplaceable. Our holistic model encompassing specialist medical, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychological and spiritual care makes us uniquely placed to deliver high-quality end of life care both in the hospice and out in the community.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Every member of our team plays a vital role in supporting patients and their loved ones at the most difficult time in their lives.\n<\/p>\n
\n “To secure that care for the future, we must urgently review every service we provide. Services that have an impact on both physical and mental wellbeing – services about prevention, about supporting people to live their best lives with adequate care wrapped around them.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We have and always will go the extra mile for our patients and community and have bridged a real gap in services in our locality.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Unfortunately, we don\u2019t have the funds to continue our current level of provision. If we don\u2019t take drastic action now, we could completely threaten our whole hospice.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Our consultation is now underway. We must remove \u00a31.1 million from non-NHS commissioned services before April 2026.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hospice, which offers palliative care and support to patients and their families in North Hertfordshire and Stevenage,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-255212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}