St Giles Hospice urges local community to support parliamentary event highlighting vital community services
A much loved hospice in Staffordshire is urging local residents to contact their local MP to ask them to attend a crucial parliamentary event that will showcase the breadth and importance of hospice care.
The event, hosted by Hospice UK during Hospice Care Week, will reimagine a 'Hospice at Home' in Parliament to demonstrate the reality of care delivered in people's homes and communities every day.
The call comes as hospices face mounting financial pressures that threaten the future of these vital services. St Giles Hospice, based in Whittington, alone cared for 2,603 people last year, delivering 80% of its care in the community through home visits and community care? services. However, like hospices across the country, it relies heavily on charitable donations, with less than a quarter of its £10 million annual costs funded by Government.
Elinor Eustace, CEO of St Giles Hospice: "We continue to advocate alongside Hospice UK for the long-term reform that the sector desperately needs. With fair funding from Government, hospices can maintain and even expand their services to support the ambition laid out in the Department for Health and Social Care’s Ten Year Plan for Health to provide more care, closer to home. We would urge members of our incredibly supportive community to write to their MP today to help us showcase the vital work these community services provide."
The need for hospice care is rising rapidly due to an ageing population, but instead of expanding to meet demand, many hospices are being forced to cut services. St Giles itself was forced last year to reduce bed capacity from 23 to 15 beds and implement 23 staff redundancies due to financial pressures.
Hospices are already delivering the Government's Ten Year Plan for Health vision of a neighbourhood health service, providing personalised care closer to home. Nationally, hospices provide nearly 1.4 million home visits every year, helping keep people out of hospital and supporting NHS capacity.
It's not too late for members of the public to write to their MP using Hospice UK's online tool, asking them to attend the parliamentary drop-in event tomorrow (October 15), 10am-3pm in the Jubilee Room at Parliament.
The letter template highlights how hospices like St Giles are already making the Government's vision of neighbourhood health services a reality, but need fair funding to secure their future and expand services to meet growing demand.
To write to your MP, visit this link and enter your details to find your local representative.
