North Yorkshire hospices could be forced to make redundancies, reduce services and even close facilities due to a deepening financial crisis, councillors have been told.
The warning was given to members of North Yorkshire Council’s scrutiny of health committee by bosses from three hospices serving North Yorkshire and York — Saint Michael’s Hospice in Harrogate, St Catherine’s Hospice in Scarborough and York-based St Leonard’s Hospice.
Tony Collins, chief executive of Saint Michael’s Hospice and Thirsk-based Herriot Hospice Homecare, said in a report for the meeting that the NHS funded between 35 and 40 per cent of the hospices’ costs four to five years ago, with fundraising making up the rest of the income.
Today, just 28 per cent of the costs come from the NHS, although Mr Collins said this could fall to 25 per cent unless more funding was provided.
Although the government pledged to invest £25.5bn into the NHS in the Autumn budget, councillors were told that no extra money was provided for hospice care.
At the same time, North Yorkshire and York hospices would need to find an extra £140,000 due to the increase in the national minimum wage and a further £650,000 for the increase in employer national insurance contributions.
Mr Collins said:
“This means that all three hospices, in order to maintain current provision, would need to present substantial deficit budgets, currently collectively at a £1.5m deficit.
“This is not sustainable or possible. This means that, with non-salary costs already at baseline, redundancies will need to occur and are in many cases are already being planned for.
“This in turn is highly likely to mean service reduction and even some closure.”
He added:
“All of this is set within the context of unprecedented demand through increasing deaths, an ageing population and greater levels of dependency from the NHS on our capacity to support their own.”
A national appeal for funding for hospices had resulted in the government announcing a £100m for the sector from the government, although this money would be reserved for capital projects, councillors were told.
The meeting heard that despite the funding crisis there had been “minimal dialogue” between the hospices and NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), which distributes NHS funding.
Mr Collins said the situation was not helped by changing staffing and structures at the ICB resulting in inconsistent commission decisions with wide variations across the hospices.
A spokesperson for ther ICB said:
“In England, the most common route for adult hospices to receive money from the Government is funding delivered via ICBs.
“In December 2024, the Government announced that hospices would receive a £100m funding boost over two years.
“We are working with partners to achieve a system transformation within the current resource envelope.
“The funding boost is a starting point towards improved financial sustainability, but the ICB recognises the need to build on this momentum and ensure hospices are integrated into local planning and delivery conversations.”
The hospices provide a range of end-of-life and palliative services including specialist inpatient beds, community-based end-of-life care, outpatient clinics, lymphoedema services and bereavement counselling and support.
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