STRUGGLING Bury Hospice will find out whether health chiefs can ease its cash crisis next week.

Earlier this month, trustees at the £5 million centre in Rochdale Old Road revealed it was falling behind the £3 million a year needed to keep it running.

The cabinet of Bury’s NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) will decide whether or not to grant the hospice extra funding on August 6.

It is understood the NHS currently provides the hospice with about £300,000 a year, equivalent to 10 per cent of its overall expenditure.

Stuart North, group chief officer of the CCG, said a proposal from Bury Hospice featuring a number of different options would be considered by the cabinet.

He said: “This will allow Bury Hospice, whose own board will meet after August 6, to consider the implications of any offer.”

NHS Bury faces its own estimated £60 million shortfall over the next few years due to underfunding of about £20 million per year.

The new Bury Hospice opened its doors last March after a three year fundraising campaign to move from its previous base in Dumers Lane, Radcliffe.

Jacqui Comber, chief executive of Bury Hospice, said she would be attending the meeting to answer any further questions from the panel.

She said: “We will find out the result on the day, and once we know the result there will be a meeting with trustees and with all our staff and volunteers.

“The staff and volunteers are aware the proposal has been submitted, and they will be the first people to know the outcome.”

Earlier this month a Save Our Hospice campaign was launched by Cllr James Frith, Labour’s candidate for Bury North in next year’s general election.

At a meeting of Bury’s CCG earlier this month, Cllr Frith urged governors to commit to helping the hospice “in its greatest time of need”.

He said: “We know NHS Bury is being let down by the Government, which is withholding £20 million of funding every year. With more than 4,000 signatures and an increase in donations online and into Bury Hospice shops since the Save Bury Hospice campaign was launched, no one can deny the huge support there is for a sustained hospice for the future.”