Lincolnshire's St Barnabas Hospice to shed jobs amid rising costs
A hospice charity in Lincolnshire says it needs to shed jobs and cut costs to avoid going into deficit.St Barnabas Hospice is asking staff to consider "voluntary resignation" to address "growing financial pressures".Becky Franks, director of patient care, said the charity was "taking action now" to ensure "we're still here in 40 years".The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had "recently announced the largest investment in hospices in a generation".
The charity provides services including palliative and end-of-life care and has two in-patient units, one in Lincoln and another in Grantham.It said 44% of funding came from the government and the rest through fundraising.But it warned that running costs had hit £40,000 a day, partly because of rises in energy costs, the Living Wage and National Insurance employer contributions.It said expenses were now outstripping income, though Ms Franks said she could not give exact figures.However, she said the rise in the Living Wage would cost the charity up to £350,000 more per year."Times are tough, but we are still open for business and caring for patients and we want to continue doing that," she said."Hospices provide outstanding care and if they're not funded properly they will be reducing their services."Ms Franks declined to comment on how many of the 300 staff could leave, but said each resignation offer would be "assessed on a case-by-case basis".
In February, the charity was given a government grant of £236,000 to be spent on building upgrades and refurbishments as part of nationwide investment. The charity said that money could not be spent on staff or services directly.In a statement, DHSC said it had given hospices a £100m funding boost, of which £25m had "already gone to hospices" to improve facilities."We are working to make sure the palliative and end-of-life care sector is sustainable in the long term, and this government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community through our plan for change," the statement added.
Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Police investigate heart surgery patient deaths at East Yorkshire hospital
Police have launched an investigation into the deaths of heart surgery patients at an East Yorkshire hospital. The investigation is focusing on transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedures carried out on elderly and frail patients at Castle Hill hospital, near Hull. There have been no arrests in connection with the investigation, which Humberside police said was in its 'very early stages'. A BBC investigation found concerns had been raised about the deaths of 11 patients after the procedure to replace a damaged valve in the heart. It is a surgery used in people with heart disease who are not well enough for major heart surgery, as the heart does not need to be stopped, unlike in bypass surgery. However it does still carry serious risk as it involves surgeons inserting an instrument with a balloon into a leg or chest artery, which is moved into position near the opening of the aortic valve. Space for new tissue is then created by inflating the balloon, which supports the heart valve. The Humber Health Care Partnership, which runs Castle Hill through Hull university teaching hospitals NHS trust (HUTH), told the BBC that three separate reviews conducted after concerns were raised found deaths after this type of surgery at the hospital were in line with the national average. It said families who had lost loved ones were invited to ask questions and that the trust was 'happy to answer those directly'. The spokesperson said: 'Three separate external reviews of our TAVI service have been undertaken and shown that mortality rates associated with TAVI are similar to national mortality rates over a four-year period. 'The Royal College of Physicians was invited to review the service in 2021, at the request of the trust's chief medical officer. 'The Royal College report concluded that the TAVI service is essential for the Humber and North Yorkshire region and needs to be expanded. 'It stated however that the design of the service should be reviewed and invested in. The report offered a number of actions for improvement and we have delivered against all of those since it was shared with us.' A Humberside police spokesperson said: 'An investigation is in the very early stages in relation to deaths following surgery at Castle Hill hospital. Inquiries are being carried out and at this time, we can confirm no arrests have been made.'
TTG
39 minutes ago
- TTG
Travel brands 'need a bit more carrot and stick when it comes to decarbonising'
by James Chapple Travel businesses can start their journeys towards decarbonisation right right now without significant cost implications, ITT conference delegates were told on Wednesday (4 June), or otherwise need to be incentivised – or forced through regulation or fines – to make a start in earnest. Felix Hamer, expedition line HX's strategy manager (sustainability), said brands shouldn't be afraid of admitting they are at the start of a journey, and should start taking whatever action they can – even if it starts with low-hanging fruit – with a focus on transparency rather than perfection in the first instance. "We need the carrot and the stick," he said in conversation with TerraVerde Sustainability founder and sustainability, Patrick Richards. "We need the fines and the financial incentives to decarbonise. And we need them to ramp up quickly – there are very few regulations that are really pushing us to decarbonise properly. "Even the IMO [International Maritime Organisation] is talking about 2028. But what about 2027 and 2026?" Hamer said anyone working in sustainability was keen for regulation to be laid. "If I'm trying to justify decarbonisation internally, and saying we need to invest – say – one hundred thousand to one million this year, but there's legislation being talked about that may be implemented in 2028, the impetus is all taken out from my discussion. "It's a very stressful time to be in this industry for that reason. Richards said that there was a perception that acting on ESG and the regulations governing how businesses act was "very bureaucratic", and asked Hamer whether there were any shortcuts to speed up adoption of better practices. "My recommendation would be that transparency is much more important than perfection," he replied. "You shouldn't be afraid to say you're at the start of this journey, that this is a partial report and that you'll improve it next year and next year. Just get going, because transparency is a real problem in the industry. "We released our first environmental report in 2017. I looked back at it last night, and it is basic. But as we've been doing it ever since, we've got better and better at measuring – more robust and broader measurements, measuring more things. "When CSRB [EU corporate sustainability reporting] came in, our auditors said we need to have a plan. We did our double materiality assessment, which is something people are going to have to do to see what part of the reporting they should do, it was actually much easier for us because we already had that reporting in place." Richards asked Hamer if he had any advice for businesses keen to follow HX's lead and embrace rather than run away from the problem. "So there are two things. One, just start reporting – even if it's basic – and the second thing is to start taking action. "If you map out the things you can do – materiality versus difficulty – then just do the things that are low difficulty, high materiality, and just get going. And again, if you're reporting, that's how you keep honest." Richards said cost was typically seen as a barrier to progress on ESG [environmental, social and governance] and asked Hamer how he assessed the cost-benefit ratio within HX. "Cost is not always a direct one-to-one, pound in, pound out situation," he said. "I benefit from the fact sustainability is one of our core USPs as a company. "It's about bridging the gap. Purchasing biofuel, for example, comes at a crazy premium right now. We have to find reasons to do it. Then there's communication. When we get a positive publication, that is justification for us investing in something.
Telegraph
39 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Mental health sick days soar by 5m in just a year
Britons took an extra 5m sick days for mental health reasons last year after a surge in conditions including stress, anxiety and depression. Staff took a record 20.5m days off because of mental health in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics, up from 14.8m in 2023. This accounted for 13.7pc of all sick days taken in Britain, the highest proportion since 2019. Jamie O'Halloran, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the figures reflect 'the tip of the iceberg' as many employees continue working even when they are unwell. He said: 'We must do more to prevent avoidable ill health and create workplaces that support people with health conditions to get into – and stay in – work. 'The lack of progress on mental health is particularly alarming and must become a greater priority for both public health policy and employer strategy.' Poor mental health appears to be more prevalent in the public sector, where it accounted for 16.4pc of absences last year – compared with 6.7pc in the private sector. There has been a surge in diagnoses of mental health conditions such as anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Overall ill health is also more problematic in the public sector, where it accounts for an absence rate of 2.9pc compared with 1.8pc for private companies. The latest figures also show that it is not only those in work taking time off because of sickness. The number of people of working age who are economically inactive – neither in work nor looking for a job – because of ill health has surged to 2.8m, up from 2.1m before the Covid pandemic. In total, workers took 149m sick days in 2024, which is down 10pc on the previous year. The number of days taken for minor illnesses dropped by a third to 33m, while workers took 26.5m days for musculoskeletal problems, roughly the same as 2023. The overall sickness rate, which charts absences as a share of all working hours, fell to 2pc. As a result the proportion of sick days is back to its pre-pandemic level. Sam Atwell, at the Health Foundation, a charity, said sick employees must be supported to prevent them from dropping out of work altogether. 'Warning sign' 'Employers and government alike should be concerned by these findings as extended or repeated episodes of sickness absence can be a warning sign that an employee is at risk of leaving the workforce and becoming economically inactive,' he said. 'Employers have a key role to play in ensuring that workers are provided with adequate sick pay and are actively supported during sickness absence. 'Our analysis shows that the UK statutory sick pay rate is among the least generous across all OECD countries.
