A message from Colin Twomey, CEO of St Wilfrid's Hospice
"As the first signs of spring pop up in the hospice gardens, I am thinking a lot about the future of St Wilfrid's.
As a member of our local community, I am sure you know someone who has been helped by the hospice. And I know you understand how vital it is that the hospice should be here to support others in the future. Which is why I want to share with you the reality of the situation we find ourselves in.
Despite our best efforts and the incredible support of our community, we are still finding it difficult to pay for our care.
It’s a perfect storm. To ensure we pay our people fairly and attract and retain good people, we have seen our salaries increase in the past two years. We have also seen the cost of goods and utilities rise and our national insurance contributions rise. At the same time, our government funding has remained broadly the same, and our income from legacies has reduced.
Up until now we have been able to use our reserves to make up the shortfall, but it has become clear that this is no longer sustainable.
We need to act now to secure the future of the hospice.
We have recently announced that we will be reducing our staffing costs through redundancies; we are facing the prospect of reducing some of the services that we provide to our patients.
Will you donate today and help to ensure hospice care is here for everyone who needs it?
I want to assure you that we are doing everything in our power to make sure the hospice is here for many years to come.
A recent additional government grant has provided us with some relief, but can only be used for buildings and equipment. We have been working hard to reduce costs wherever possible and maximise opportunities for income, but we are now at a point where we will have to reduce our staffing costs to bring the deficit in our budget to a manageable level. This will inevitably require removing some roles though redundancies and reduction in hours.
My heartfelt thanks goes to our amazing community, who are standing by us in this time of adversity. We are incredibly grateful for your generosity in trying to reduce our funding gap by donating, fundraising, leaving gifts in wills, playing our lottery and visiting our shops. It is thanks to this support that we have been able to grow our services over the years to meet the needs of our community.
I’m sorry to have to ask you to step up once again, but we urgently need your support to help protect care for our patients and secure our future.
If you haven’t had a chance to, I urge you to read Shellie's story, where she captures the importance of hospice care so beautifully. And, if you are able to, I ask you to consider making a donation so that we can be there for more families like Shellie’s.
I wish you all the best and thank you for your steadfast support of St Wilfrid’s.
Together we can secure our future.
Losing a sibling is devastating; St Wilfrid’s made it bearable
"Last summer we said goodbye to my beautiful, bubbly little sister, Chantelle. She was just 38 when she died, leaving her two sons, myself, and our whole family devastated.
The only light at this terrible time was St Wilfrid’s Hospice. Their care was incredible; making sure Chantelle was always comfortable, checking on her regularly, and looking after the whole family at the hardest time in our lives.
I dread to think what that time would have been like without St Wilfrid’s."
Your support makes all the difference
A gift from you today can help patients like Chantelle to live well at the end of life, and help secure the future of St Wilfrid’s. Here’s the difference your donation could make.
£27.44 could help someone avoid a hospital admission by providing an hour of care at home.
£33 would be enough to provide an hour of support to patients, carers and professionals through the hospice’s Nurse Line service.
£56 could help someone manage their symptoms and pain by covering the cost of two hours of their care on the Inpatient Unit.
£121 would be enough to pay for a nurse for a whole day, providing expert care and support wherever it is needed.
£264 could help someone avoid a hospital admission by providing eight hours of care at home.
£676 could give someone like Chantelle a whole 24 hours of comfort, support, and care on the Inpatient Unit.
£1,694 This extraordinary gift could sponsor a nurse for two whole weeks.
