Further redundancies for hospice nurses announced
More hospices have announced they must make nurses redundant due to rising costs and budget pressures.
St Catherine’s Hospice, which operates sites across Sussex and Surrey, announced that it must make £1.5m in savings to remain in operation.
“Redundancies of health and social care staff are simply not acceptable given the huge pressures in our NHS and beyond”
Toby Porter
As a result, it is expecting to make more than 40 redundancies, which will include some registered nurse and other nursing staff.
Chief executive Giles Tomsett said that the hospice had already made “significant reductions” to its support teams and the number of hours its helpline operates, and that the next step was to further shrink the size of its workforce.
“It is with great sadness that I can confirm that our proposals will include a reduction of staff including nursing,” said Mr Tomsett.
“It’s heartbreaking to have to reduce our team of highly skilled, specialist clinicians – some of whom have delivered expert support for many years and who all care so deeply about supporting families living with a terminal or life-limiting diagnosis and people coming towards the end of life.”
The charity said it did not expect to reduce the number of beds it operates. However, it has scrapped plans to increase the number of beds at one site in Sussex from 12 to 24.
“Whilst everyone at St Catherine’s is saddened by this situation, we’re enormously indebted and encouraged by the continuing loyalty of so many supporters who help fund our work daily,” Mr Tomsett added.
“We have also valued the help of so many local people to bring this matter to the attention of our local MPs who will be better able to advocate for change in the way hospices are funded in the future given the priority all parties place on improving community care and support for an aging society.
“We continue to need and value the ongoing support of all our supporters, donors and volunteers.”
On Monday 9 September, the organisation enters a consultation period with its staff over the proposed changes.
As well as redundancies, the hospice announced it was piloting engagement in the NHS Neighbourhood Groups scheme, which sees health service and charity sector health professionals – including nurses – collaborate to look after patients, including those needing end-of-life care.
Redundancies and cost saving measures are not just happening at St Catherine’s Hospice.
At the end of August, St Giles Hospice in Lichfield announced it must make 40 staff redundant, including nurse posts.
Like St Catherine’s, St Giles Hospice said it must make £1.5m in cost savings to remain operating sustainably.
“It’s heartbreaking to have to reduce our team of highly skilled, specialist clinicians”
Giles Tomsett
Trustee board chair Robin Vickers said: “By making redundancies now, the hospice is ensuring it can return to a sustainable budget as soon as possible.
“As a charity, we are not underwritten by the government or the NHS, we cannot continue to run a deficit and simply run out of money; if we did, the hospice would cease to exist.
“St Giles has been supporting our local community for over 40 years and our intention is to be here to support those who need us most in another 40 years.”
Birmingham Hospice, in June, said that it was making 14% of its workforce redundant, with 45 full-time roles including nurses being cut, and reducing its bed count due to cost pressures.
Speaking following the redundancy announcements by St Catherine’s and St Giles, Hospice UK chief executive Toby Porter said the sector was facing a roughly £60m deficit, and that it was in its worst financial state in 20 years.
“We extend our sympathy and solidarity with the excellent team at St Catherine’s, and our compassion to everyone directly affected by these cuts to care services and associated job losses,” said Mr Porter.
“It makes me both sad and angry to see a well-regarded and well-supported local hospice forced to take these decisions, because they’re unable to keep up with rising costs.”
He added, on the day of the redundancy announcement at St Giles: “St Giles is not the first, and sadly will likely not be the last.
“This news follows other redundancies and service reductions across the UK’s hospice sector.
“Let’s be clear: redundancies of health and social care staff are simply not acceptable given the huge pressures in our NHS and beyond.”
Earlier this week, the issue of hospice funding was raised in the House of Lords by Dame Sarah Mullally, former chief nursing officer for England and current Bishop of London.
Dame Sarah quizzed the government on what it would do address “extremely unequal” access to hospices across the country, with services in deprived areas particularly struggling to maintain themselves through charity funding.
