Read the response from our Chief Executives, Nick Stevens and Becca Trower to the Government announcement that the remaining £75 million of additional funding will be available for hospices across England:
We remain very grateful to the Government for the funding it has released for hospices and the announcement, on Sunday 20 July, that the remaining £75 million has now been released, is very welcome.
This funding is ringfenced for major upgrades which hospices, like St Raphael’s, have been unable to previously consider, as our funding priority is our essential daily running costs.
Whilst we are very thankful for this funding, it sadly does not relieve the ongoing pressure being felt by hospices across the UK. Major upgrades are very beneficial, but they do not help secure sustainable and ongoing funding to protect the future of St Raphael’s.
Despite this cash injection, we remain reliant on our local community to throw coins into a bucket or to jump out of a plane to raise the money we need to provide our specialist and vital end-of-life care.
What the Government funding does provide, however, is the ability to focus on capital and digital projects. Thanks to the previous £25 million funding we have already benefitted from upgrading our IT facilities, replacing fire doors on our ward and enabling us to replace and upgrade some of our technical equipment such as laptops and mobile phones.
We hope to continue these significant improvements with this generous additional funding incorporating a new website and updating our medication/treatment room, refreshing our staff changing rooms and creating a multifaith and reflective space for our staff, our patients and those important to them.
We hope that this funding is a step closer to increased NHS funding to pull hospices out of the current funding crisis, where services have been cut, posts made redundant and bedrooms closed on the ward.
We look forward to continued discussions and negotiations with our colleagues at South West London ICB and with the Government for a realistic and permanent solution to ensure our expert end-of-life can be accessed and fully funded for everyone who requires it.