CEO interview

An interview with our CEO, Frank Noble

Since our last newsletter when we shared the current financial situation of the Hospice, many of our supporters have asked us questions about what’s next for us and how they can help. Our CEO Frank answers some of your questions.

Is there an update on your financial situation? We are working hard to understand “exactly” where we are financially, as much as anyone can in such complex times. There are still many uncertainties. We don’t know what the virus will do in the future or its impact on our ability to fundraise. We don’t know if there will be more support from government or the NHS. What we do know is that without further funding we expect a deficit of at least £2m this year but it could be higher. If we don’t receive more income and change some of the ways we operate, the deficit will only get bigger and will threaten the existence of the Hospice.

What cuts do you have planned? Making decisions that impact our services is not easy. There is so much to consider and cost is just one aspect. For example the changes to our Day Services are down to the impossibility of bringing together even small groups of vulnerable patients at the Hospice. We expect Day Services to remain closed in its original format for a significant period. In the meantime we are getting ready to offer many of the services remotely. The decision to reduce beds in the IPU down to 10 from 15 is down to reduced staffing levels –and we feel we are not in the position to hire or use agency support with our current financial situation.

Won’t the government or NHS support you? Hospices like ours benefitted from additional support from government grants, which ended in July. Without these our situation would have been much worse. In normal times 19% of our funding comes from our local NHS commissioning group. They are extremely sympathetic to our position but as you can imagine the

NHS budgets are extremely stretched. We are working very closely with them to explore future support.

Does the Hospice have reserves (savings) that can protect it? Thanks to your past support, we had reserves (savings) that we could use during the past few months. Without significant additional funding or cost cutting we will deplete reserves and not be in a position to face future shocks. Like any well managed organisation we have to keep some reserves to support ourselves in the future in case there is another unforeseen crisis.

How much money is needed to restore the hospice to full service? Sadly there is no straight forward answer as we have to consider not just returning the Hospice to full service for the midterm but also long term sustainability. In 2019 it cost us around £8.7million to run the service, with costs increasing year on year. We need to be able to provide a service that we can afford with our current funding levels and that means taking the opportunity to understand how we can work more efficiently.

How will patient care be affected? Every decision we take is guided by the aim of minimising the impact on patients. We’re working hard to preserve the core of our traditional services and also how we harness technology to keep providing high quality holistic and compassionate care focussed on patients, families and carers.

How can I help? The hospice exists because of the generosity of our supporters and we have never needed you more. Throughout the newsletter you’ll find opportunities to get involved and help the Hospice. The letters, emails and calls from you over the past few weeks have given us all a massive boost and we can’t thank you enough for reaching out. We know that with your help we will be there when it matters most. Thank you.