Latest news with #TotaraHospice
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Hospice cuts patient numbers: 'We are so desperately sorry for the unavoidable suffering'
Totara Hospice says it has to cut patient numbers by about 100 a month to adequately provide services. Photo: RNZ An Auckland hospice is being forced to cut the number of people it cares for in their final days by almost a third. Totara Hospice gets $8.8 million dollars from the government - but that does not even cover the wage bill, so it fundraises on top of that. Faced with a shortfall of millions, chief executive Tina McCafferty sounded the alarm bell to try and ward off cuts. But with no solution in sight, McCafferty told Checkpoint that cuts in numbers had started this week. "We have between 420 and 450 patients and families in any one month, and what we are having to do is cut that back to about 320, 330 at the moment, and there may be further cuts. "We are so desperately sorry for the unavoidable suffering and distress that this will cause." McCafferty said patients who need help with palliative care should contact their general practitioner, or their age-care provider. "We don't want to put that burden on healthcare partners, and particularly not on patients and families, but we must have safe staffing and safe services with the allocated funding and allocated resources that we have." Health Minister Simeon Brown told Checkpoint that Health NZ had increased funding to the hospice sector by 3 percent this year, as part of the government's increased spending on health. Brown said their own financial reporting showed the government contributed 84 percent of the organisation's funding, which was higher than the 50 to 55 percent for most hospices. But McCafferty disputed those figures. "We are funded $8.89m from the government, but clinical wages alone are just over $12 million, and when you put the cost of clinical services on top of that, then you are looking at funding being around 56 percent for services and we just can't ask the community to bridge a gap of that size anymore. "I think there is a bit of a disconnect between what the minister has been told by his officials. If the minister thinks that an $8.89m contract is 84 percent of $12m of clinical wages, then he has been advised incorrectly." She said health providers in New Zealand were facing a "disempowered and broken system". "So whatever is going on inside Heath NZ needs to be sorted by its board, by its Crown observer, by its new chief executive, because in the midst of what appears to be chaos, we meet with people who are trying to do a great job, but they say they can't do anything. "People are suffering and what we need is appropriate and sustainable funding to meet the needs of palliative and end of life patients." But Brown also said the hospice will need to explain why it has chosen to reduce services, despite increased investment. He said the government has asked Health NZ and Hospice NZ to work on a sustainable funding approach for providing vital palliative care. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Auckland hospice thirds number of patients due to funding shortfalls
An Auckland hospice is having to cut the number of people it cares for by almost a third because it's short of funding. Totara Hospice gets $8.8 million from the Government, but that doesn't even cover the wage bill, so it fundraises on top of that. Faced with a shortfall of $3.6 million, Chief Executive Tina McCafferty sounded the alarm bell to try and ward off cuts. But with no solution a month later, the South Auckland community the hospice serves is going to start feeling the impacts. Totara Hospice chief executive Tina McCafferty spoke to Melissa Chan-Green. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Scoop
09-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Government Must Save Tōtara Hospice: NZNO
The Coalition Government must provide urgent funding to Totara Hospice to stop it having to cut its services by a quarter from next week, NZNO says. Totara Hospice provides end-of-life care at no direct cost to patients from a diverse and growing community of around 520,000 South Aucklanders and is the subject of a new documentary series called Hospice Heroes. New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) delegate and hospice nurse Ed Boswell-Correa said staff were yesterday told the hospice had to reduce the number of people they actively care for in a month from 420 to 320 because of a lack of Government funding. "This decision is devastating for the local community. It will mean only the sickest people will be able to access our services. "It will force elderly people to remain in aged care facilities when they need specialist palliative care. Other people will be forced to go to Middlemore Hospital for care or worse still, not receive the care they need at all. "These people deserve the dignity they are provided by hospice when they are dying." Ed Boswell-Correa says yesterday's "bombshell announcement" follows a hiring freeze Totara was forced to put in place last month. "Fewer nurses and health care assistants mean less care for our patients. We want to be able to provide our patients and their whānau with the health care they need at this traumatic time in their lives," he says. Sadly, Totara Hospice isn't alone. NZNO is aware of at least four other hospices having to reduce their services. The Coalition Government must provide Te Whatu Ora with the funding it needs to save these services now. A report in March found hospices provide taxpayers with at least $1.59 in health benefits for every dollar of government funding.
RNZ News
05-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Reductions hitting one of the country's largest hospices
One of the country's largest hospice organisations is planning to reduce services next month, if nothing changes with regard to its funding. Totara Hospice, which services the communities of South and South-East Auckland, wrote to the Health Minister Simeon Brown this week to outline the urgency. It comes after years of warnings hospice funding is unsustainable, and this year's Martin Jenkins report which found that for the first time the hospice sector In New Zealand won't be able to raise enough money to break even. Hospices are funded by a mix of government funding and community fundraising. Tina McCafferty is the chief executive of Totara Hospice, which provides specialist adult palliative care to South and South-East Auckland.
RNZ News
13-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
The Panel with Paula Penfold & Phil O'Reilly (Part 1)
Tonight on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Paula Penfold & Phil O'Reilly. The three of them discuss: a lack of funding for hospice care. Plus, do we need to re -think how we provide training for apprentices? Paula Penfold is an investigative journalist at stuff Phil O'Reilly is a global business leader, advocate and MD of Iron Duke Partners Totara Hospice Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin
