We were delighted to welcome local MP Anneliese Dodds to Helen & Douglas House at the end of March. We spoke about the breadth of work carried out by hospice staff and the funding pressures the children’s hospice is facing within a landscape of increasing demand for their services locally.
Mark, our Interim CEO and Director of Finance & Operations, and our Medical Director, Emily Harrop discussed with Anneliese the costs of running the hospice being c£6m a year to fund care for local families, with c10% of total annual income coming from the government.
Mark at Helen & Douglas House said:
“Demand for our services is growing. We supported 580 local children and their families last year which is an increase of 150 over the previous year. Sadly there has been an increase in the number of children we have supported for end-of-life care which was up 20% on last year. We also delivered 29% more hours of care at home than the previous year.
Despite the additional care we are providing, Helen & Douglas House continues to operate within the confines of a challenging financial envelope. We have respectful, collaborative relationships with our local Integrated Care Boards and health partners and whilst we have recently seen a modest increase in our statutory funding, we rely largely on the generosity of the general public to fund the majority of the care we provide.
As our local MP, we want Anneliese to be aware of how we are funded and ask for her support in highlighting the disparity with funding for adult hospices, who typically receive around 25%-30% of their funding from the government.”
Emily at Helen & Douglas House said:
“We are grateful for Anneliese’s clear interest and insight into the work of Helen & Douglas House and we would welcome a continued strategic relationship with her and her team.”
Anneliese Dodds said:
“It was wonderful to see how all the staff and volunteers at Helen & Douglas House are working so hard to help children and their families at the most difficult time. I appreciated the fact that the leadership of the hospice were keen to explain to me both the great strides that they are making, and current challenges affecting their and other hospices. One particular issue that we discussed is the need for childrens’ hospices to be supported as well as adult hospices. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank both everyone at Helen & Douglas House and all those who fundraise for it and staff its shops – as the work of Helen & Douglas House really could not be more important.”