An east London hospice says it is pleased it has been awarded £300,000 from the Government - but that more money is needed to secure the future of hospice care.
Saint Francis Hospice received the capital funding as part of a £125 million national investment in hospices across England. The funds will be used to help refurbish the hospice’s ward, creating a more comfortable and calming environment for patients and their families.
Grazina Berry, chief executive officer at Saint Francis Hospice, said: "We are very grateful for the additional £300,000 funding which will enable us to provide a homely care environment to individuals receiving care on the ward with even more comfort.
"Although this capital funding is extremely helpful, it can only be spent on improving our physical environment or our technology. It can’t contribute towards paying the running costs that enable our clinical teams to deliver day-to-day care such as our nurses or running our community and hospice at home services."
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St Francis Hospice offers support and care for any person with a serious life-limiting illness and living in Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Brentwood or parts of West Essex.
It provides around 85 per cent of its care in the community, helping patients remain at home while receiving specialist support. The hospice has said it still relies heavily on donations to cover core services.
Ms Berry said: "The funding we receive from the Government remains at around 30%, which means we still rely heavily on charitable income. And we are providing what many would expect to be a core NHS service.
"Without voluntary donations, Saint Francis Hospice, like all hospices across the country, would not be able to deliver the extensive range of expert care and support services people desperately need and deserve."
Saint Francis Hospice said it remains in a financially stable position today, but stressed that without meaningful reform to how the sector is funded nationally, future service provision could be affected.
Ms Berry said: "We need a fairer and more dependable funding model that recognises hospices as a vital part of the healthcare system – because that is exactly what we are. Each year raising the funds we need to stay open gets harder and harder."
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