'Ribbon-cutting events make positive headlines, but the real success is in quiet moments': Walsall hospice boss warns of funding crisis

But from his first words, you can sense an impending 'however'. 

"These funds will undoubtedly help improve facilities, upgrade equipment, and enhance the environments where care is delivered," he says.

"However, there's a reality that needs addressing: these grants don't pay for a single minute of what truly matters, the compassion and love that defines hospice care.

"Ribbon-cutting ceremonies at new facilities make for positive headlines, but the real measure of hospice success happens in quiet moments between care teams and families that require adequate staffing levels to achieve "

Mr Johnson, who took up the post as chief executive of Acorns two years ago, is mindful not to appear churlish about the grant the Government has provided. It will bring tangible benefits in terms of modern equipment and updated facilities. 

"These improvements are genuinely valuable and needed," he says. "A hospice with outdated facilities or inadequate equipment cannot provide the best medical or supportive environment that children and families deserve when facing the darkest times in their lives."

But he also feels a sense of frustration at the lack of long-term funding which would help the hospice meet its long-term running costs.

"The heart of hospice care isn't found in the buildings or the equipment. It’s in the hands of the people who deliver it, our nurses who adjust medication at 3am, the gentle voice that comforts a child and the support that guides families through impossible moments. The care teams who provide the specialised palliative care that makes our hospices unique remain unfunded by capital grants."

Last month, the Government announced £75 million for new hospice projects, on top of £25 million it had already committed in January . Care minister Stephen Kinnock said it demonstrated the Government's commitment to the sector, and said the funds were already making a difference to patient care. He paid a visit to Katharine House in Stafford, which will benefit from £97,658 in capital funding, where he chatted to staff and patients.

But Mr Johnson warns that behind the cheery photo opportunities and the indeed welcome news of building improvements, lies a deeper funding crisis. 

"Hospices across the country are struggling to maintain staff levels and provide vital care, not because they lack commitment, but because they lack sustainable funding for essential roles. 

"The specialised training required for palliative and end-of-life care, combined with the emotional demands of the work, means hospices need competitive salaries to attract and retain care staff."

Mr Johnson says that problem is particularly acute in the children's sector, where nursing requirements are more complex. 

"Paediatric palliative care requires specialised training in child development, family dynamics, sibling support, and the consideration of the unique medical needs of children with life limiting conditions.

"These highly skilled professionals are even scarcer than adult hospice nurses, yet children's hospices face the same capital-focused funding approach that fails to address such critical staffing needs. 

"Capital grants create better spaces for care but don't address the fundamental question: who will provide that care, and how will it be funded? A new patient room funded by a capital grant costs money to build and equip. 

"However, the nursing care required to make that room meaningful in providing 24-hour support, specialised pain management and symptom control, family support, and end-of-life expertise costs significantly more and requires ongoing, reliable funding."

Children's hospices not only need higher staff-to-patient ratios, with nurses trained not only in paediatric palliative care, but also in supporting entire families through unimaginable circumstances. 

"They must be equipped to comfort a child, support exhausted parents, and help siblings understand what's happening, all while managing complex medical conditions that vary dramatically from adult care," says Mr Johnson.

"This isn't to diminish the value of capital improvements. Patients deserve quality environments, and families need comfortable spaces during difficult times."

Mr Johnson says there needs to be a more balanced approach to funding that recognises both infrastructure and operational realities. Regular, predictable funding streams are essential for hospices to maintain appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios and competitive salaries, he says. And he fears that capital grants, however well-intentioned they may be, could inadvertently mask the more pressing funding crisis in meeting day-to-day running costs.

"The Government's capital grant program represents an important step forward, and the hospice sector is genuinely grateful for this investment. However, it must be part of a broader commitment to hospice care that includes sustainable operational funding."

Mr Johnson is asking people to back Acorns' online petition calling for the Government to commit to maintaining the children's hospice grant for the next five years, and also to increase it in line with inflation.

He says: "The question isn't whether capital grants are valuable. They are. 

"The question is whether we'll complement these physical improvements with the operational funding needed to ensure they're staffed by the people who make hospice care meaningful.

"Until that happens, we're building impressive shells around an increasingly fragile core, leaving the most vulnerable people, especially children, without the specialised care they desperately need.

"Even the most sophisticated facility becomes merely an expensive shell without adequate nursing staff to breathe life into it."