Greater Manchester’s hospices have spoken out over a reliance on charity donations to provide their services amid a ‘continuing struggle’ to remain open.

According to a report by BBC News, five hospices across the country have planned job cuts in the past two months due to financial pressures.

Now, the GM Hospices initiative – which includes Bury, St Ann’s, Bolton, Dr Kershaw’s, Springhill, Wigan and Leigh, and Willow Wood Hospices in its membership, has spoken out about difficulties relying on charity donations to provide services.

Bury Hospice holds a range of fundraising events. In May this year, the hospice hosted a 'Funding our Future' event to encourage people to put the hospice in their will.

Bury Hospice chief executive Helen Lockwood has previously said the hospice is 'heavily reliant on financial contributions' from individuals and other donors.

In a statement, GM Hospices said: “Like so many hospices across the UK, Greater Manchester's hospices are facing financial struggles, exacerbated by the recent cost-of-living crisis, national pay awards for NHS and medical staff, and the challenges of COVID-19.

“Often people don’t realise that hospices are charities. We rely on our communities to help us raise two thirds of our costs on average (less still for children's hospices) – that's over £100,000 between us every single day.

“This money is raised through our charity shops, our hospice lotteries, donations from the public and events.

“At the moment we are managing to meet these costs, but only just - and it is a continuing struggle to do so.

“Over the last 12 months and beyond several of our hospices have faced a very real threat to services, as a result of financial challenges stretching back several years with increases in NHS funding falling far short of the pace of inflation.

“We have had an outpouring of support from our local communities which has helped to improve our collective financial situation, but we are aware that the cost-of-living crisis is affecting our supporters as much as it is us, so relying on them for such a large proportion of our income is a big risk.

“In Greater Manchester, our ICB [Integrated Care Board] recognises the value hospices bring and has supported our adult hospices with one-off additional funding in this financial year while they undertake a bigger all-ages review of palliative and end of life services.

“But we know this isn’t the case in other parts of the country - and in Greater Manchester, without a dedicated recurrent solution to the financial sustainability of our adult and children's hospices, we are likely to be facing the same issues next year.

“The only way hospices will survive in the long term is if there is national policy change which recognises the contribution we make.

“Hospice care is not a “nice to have” service, it is essential.

“Greater Manchester's hospices are specialist palliative care providers.

“Our doctors and nurses are experts in their field and the care they offer is not available anywhere else. Without us, patients would end up in A&E, hospital beds and using other NHS services – none of which are set up to meet their needs as well as we can.

 “Every day we hear from our patients and their families how valuable our services are to them, but we also need this value to be recognised by the government if hospice care is to survive in the long term. 

“It shouldn’t be the responsibility of local people to jump out of aeroplanes, just to make sure their loved ones can receive the care they need through a terminal diagnosis to the end of their life.”

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