{"id":642591,"date":"2026-06-17T00:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T00:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/642591\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T00:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T00:38:15","slug":"new-era-as-teesside-hospice-and-butterwick-hospice-merge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/642591\/","title":{"rendered":"New era as Teesside Hospice and Butterwick Hospice merge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Teesside Hospice, in Middlesbrough, and Butterwick Hospice, in Stockton, have today (June 15) officially united in a \u201cnew beginning\u201d for North East hospice care.\u00a0<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n The news, announced last month, comes as the sector remains at a funding crisis point – with Butterwick itself running at a loss for several years amid dwindling reserves.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Both hospices, which will now jointly support around 7,000 people per year, continue to face these challenges, with demand also increasing year on year.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n But now, they are no longer in competition for the likes of fundraising and retail – and can use each other’s strengths with the hopes to \u201cbetter serve communities in the future\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Butterwick Hospice CEO Edward Gorringe and Teesside Hospice CEO Mike Thornicroft (Image: TEESSIDE HOSPICE)\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cToday is a new beginning for hospice care across Teesside and County Durham\u201d, Mike Thornicroft, CEO of Teesside Hospice, told The Northern Echo today.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is the coming together of two hospices that have been around for more than 40 years that have provided care to tens of thousands in that time.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \"TeessideTeesside Hospice (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is the start of a new era and one that can only guarantee really positive outcomes for the future. In the long term, we think that everyone will prosper as a result of this.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Mike said it had been an exciting day for both hospices: \u201cA number of colleagues have been competing in fundraising and retail and today is the first day that we all start working together.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u2018Stronger together\u2019<\/p>\n

\n The merger comes just less than two years after Butterwick CEO Edward Gorringe revealed that, without additional funding, the hospice would \u201csimply become unsustainable\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thornicroft said today means that Butterwick can continue into the future, despite the financial crisis that both it and many other hospices across the country continue to face.\n<\/p>\n

\n He said: \u201cThe hospice was running at a loss for several years and dwindling reserves meant that they were in a difficult position.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \"ButterwickButterwick Hospice in Stockton (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is really positive that Teesside was in a position to help them.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe hospice sector in general is struggling. Whilst NHS funding goes up a small amount each year, it doesn\u2019t keep up with inflation.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe can now get the most out of every event, every fundraiser, that takes place for the benefit of the community.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cLong term, it means patients get a better outcome, and means care for patients can improve everyday. I feel really positive about hospice care across the North East and North Cumbria.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor me personally, it is a new way of working which the whole hospice sector can hopefully learn from. I hope we can turn this into a really positive experience.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Teesside Hospice has also seen the impact of the hospice sector crisis first hand, facing a deficit of around \u00a3300,000 last year.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thornicroft previously said National Living Wage and National Insurance Contribution increases this year had been tough<\/a> – but plans are in place to tackle the next forecasted deficit.\n<\/p>\n

\n The merger has resulted in two Butterwick staff facing redundancy.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thornicroft said care users will likely not notice a difference day to day: \u201cThe clinical teams will remain the same.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe location where people receive their support will be the same – but we will be using the same systems to benefit all.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cMergers are the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teesside Hospice, in Middlesbrough, and Butterwick Hospice, in Stockton, have today (June 15) officially united in a \u201cnew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-642591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642591","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=642591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}