St Catherine’s Hospice Reduces Services and Staff Due to Financial Constraints

Due to elevated operational expenses, a hospice located in West Sussex has had to reduce its services and dismiss 40 employees. St Catherine’s Hospice, situated in Crawley, possesses 24 on-site beds; however, financial limitations permit the operation of only 12 of these. Giles Tomsett, the hospice’s chief executive, expressed his sorrow, stating: “I’m heartbroken to have lost 40 excellent, wonderful professionals.” A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) commented: “We are working to make sure everyone has access to high-quality end of life care.” Mr Tomsett further remarked: “We’re delivering some of the most specialist complex care that is needed by people and it’s outside of the NHS system.” Additionally, St Catherine’s ‘hospice at home’ service has ceased operations, and a 24/7 patient helpline has shortened its availability to 08:00 to 16:00 GMT, Monday through Friday. The hospice indicated that it would need to request donations from the relatives of individuals receiving care to cover the cost of their Christmas lunches, as it is no longer able to subsidise these meals. The hospice also stated that it has revised its referral criteria to prioritize patients requiring more complex care. Patients will continue to be cared for by their general practitioners and other healthcare services, with the hospice team offering expert advice when necessary. Dr Julia Fleming, a consultant in palliative medicine at the hospice, explained: “What we are having to do is focus our efforts on looking after those people who really need us most.” She continued: “Community nursing teams and general practitioners will be doing more of the more generalist palliative and end of life care. “We will become more involved with those people whose needs are potentially more complex.” The DHSC spokesperson further stated: “The choices the Chancellor made in the Budget allowed us to invest another £26 billion in health and social care.” They added that “Hospice funding for next year will be set out in due course.”