Hospice patients ‘devastated’ over staff cuts

Patients at a hospice have said they are “angry” and “devastated” staff who take care of them are at risk of losing their jobs.

Nottinghamshire Hospice has placed 17 employees at risk of redundancy and said it “hasn’t been taken lightly”.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has created a £100 million fund to “improve facilities” and allow hospices to “focus their wider resources on providing the best care to patients”.

But Nottinghamshire Hospice has said while it welcomes the extra funding, it does not help pay for staff, which is its largest cost.

Kate Poole, 60, was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2017 after finding a rash on one of her breasts.

She was told one month later it had spread to her bones and was incurable.

The mum of two is now on her 90th round of chemotherapy to try and manage the disease.

Mrs Poole, from Beeston, told the BBC: “I was listening to Victoria Derbyshire one night and she said she just knew, when she looked at her breasts, that there was something wrong and that was how I felt. I just knew.

“My son tried to hold it together. My daughter was hysterical. It was just the world’s worst,” she added.

Mrs Poole’s sister-in-law encouraged her in 2019 to attend wellbeing and talking therapy sessions at Nottinghamshire hospice.

She said she was reluctant at first, but quickly made friends and took comfort from speaking to other people in her position.

Mrs Poole said she now looks forward to the time she spends at the hospice, and is “angry” at the prospect of staff losing their jobs.

“I don’t like talking about my death, but I want to die at home if I can. When I walk in, I see the nurses and I think I wouldn’t mind you being there for my husband and the kids.

“They’re so important, so knowledgeable. To them I’m not Kate with cancer. I’m not Kate with the terminal disease. I’m just Kate. I need this place.”

Neville Thompson was diagnosed with a brain tumour in September last year.

Doctors started an intensive treatment plan, but he was told in November it was un-treatable and was given a prognosis of between three and 18 months.

The 74-year-old came out as gay four years ago and said his terminal diagnosis has robbed him of time being his authentic self.

“I met someone who bowled me off my feet and now we haven’t got that much time together, which is very sad.

“When we found out, we got married. It was beautiful.”

Mr Thompson started attending Nottinghamshire hospice’s wellbeing sessions two months ago and hopes to be able to die at his home in Sherwood with the help of staff.

“It’s my last wish. I don’t like the thought of being in any pain and I hope I’m just here one minute and the next I’m not.

“I’m penguin crazy so I’ve created a special garden in my back yard. I’ve got a two ft penguin in it and that’s where my ashes are going.”

Mr Thompson told the BBC he’s “devastated” for the staff at risk.

“They’re just fun and so caring. You could drown in the tea and coffee that they make.”

Christopher Smith is on long term palliative care and has been a patient at the hospice since June last year.

The 56-year-old said: “I just came because I like the camaraderie. It gives you a respite from being at home on your own thinking negatively so it’s an invaluable service.

“It’s very different to what people think. It’s a very positive environment and 100% support when you walk through the door.”

Mr Smith has been given a prognosis of three to five years and said he hoped to live to see the hospice’s “funding crisis” improve.

“All services are important here and all services should be should be financed. I don’t think there should be a trade off with staff.

“They just create a positive environment with their attitude and experience and I can’t understand how they’re not financed.”

“It’s critical something changes,” he added.

Nottinghamshire Hospice, in Woodborough Road, Nottingham, has faces an extra £190,000 in costs in its budget for 2025-26 and a predicted £800,000 overall deficit.

The charity has said £4 of every £5 it spends is on staff and has placed the 17 employees at risk to protect its Hospice In Your Home services, which support the nine in 10 hospice patients.

Chief executive Rachel Hucknall said donations provide most of the charity’s funding, as NHS income had fallen “in real terms” over the last 5 years.

“We’ve also had increases in utility bills, increases in petrol. And then the national minimum wage has increased costs for us as well.”

Ms Hucknall added the decision to put staff into consultation “wasn’t taken lightly”, but was necessary to protect the hospice’s future.

“People work here because they feel really passionately about end of life care and giving people a good death but we’ve had to make this decision now to make sure that we can be sustainable,” she said.

A DHSC spokesperson previously said: “We recently announced the largest investment in hospices in a generation.

“This £100 million fund will improve facilities and allow hospices to focus their attention and wider resources on providing the best care to patients.

“Ministers continue to work to make the sector sustainable in the long term, including via our 10 Year Health Plan.”

But Nottinghamshire Hospice added that even though the support is welcomed, it does not support hospices to pay its staff.

Charlie King, Deputy Director of External Affairs at Hospice UK, which represents over 200 hospices has said its “thoughts are with the staff affected” and said it planned to work with the government of long term reform for the sector.