Friends of the Wisdom Hospice in Rochester refused government emergency funding
06:00, 07 May 2020
updated: 16:10, 07 May 2020
The Friends of the Wisdom Hospice (FOWH), which looks after patients with life-limiting illnesses, has been refused government emergency funding.
The unique way the Rochester-based charity foots the care bill to help fund hospice services across Medway and Swale means it has been told it is not eligible for a share of the government’s £200 million emergency fund earmarked for hospices.
Chief executive Martyn Reeves says he is determined to find a way to battle on, despite the news which will cause concerns for many patients and their families.
Three of the charity’s shops have closed with fundraising activities cancelled meaning income is down by about £50,000 a month.
Mr Reeves said the government has “moved the goalposts” following initial discussions.
He said the government initially told them it would support about two-thirds of fundraising hospices would miss out on during lockdown.
FWOH has now been told funding will now only be directed to hospices which fund themselves – and for Covid patients.
Chief Executive Martin Reeves has been speaking to KMTV
“It’s quite unfair because we were in conversations and now been excluded from it,” Mr Reeves said.
“Services will have to continue, that’s not going to change. But we will have to change the way we do business and will meet that challenge.”
He added the charity is reluctant to reduce its annual grant given to support Wisdom Hospice because it is vital to provide “continuity of care”.
Last year, the charity raised £670,000 to support the £4.5m service which is mostly funded by the NHS to Medway Community Healthcare (MCH).
MCH, an independent community interest company, bids to the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for government funding to run hospice care.
The Friends of Wisdom Hospice then raises the additional cash to support services.
Mr Reeves said the arrangement has existed since the Wisdom Hospice was established in 1984 due to concerns over the charity relying on donations to fund its own services due to low incomes in the Towns.
The charity is a member of Hospice UK which has been in talks with the government about how emergency funding would be directed to help hospices.
Mr Reeves said: “I was astounded when I was told we would not qualify for emergency funding schemes.
“We had worked closely with Hospice UK in lobbying the government for the emergency funding. At first, I was led to believe that we would be getting a share of the funds but suddenly that changed.”
Wisdom is one of about a dozen charities affected by the announcement and Mr Reeves says he’s working with them to continue lobbying officials.
"It’s quite unfair because we were in conversations and now been excluded from it..."
The summer is usually the charity’s busiest time of the year for fundraising.
Events like the annual Colour Run – originally planned for April – which has been moved to October usually raises £20,000.
But Mr Reeves fears lockdown will likely mean there will be “no appetite” for such public events for up to a year.
The charity has contingency plans in place for the next three to six months to maintain income.
Mr Reeves added: “I know our supporters will dig deep to try to help us, but we are unlikely, in the immediate future, to be able to make up the shortfall in income caused by Covid-19 and that money is needed desperately by the patients and families we support.”
The community hospice in High Bank, Rochester, was opened by The Queen in 1984, following a public fundraising campaign led by Molly Wisdom.
The campaign raised £700,000 to cover the cost of the building, which was then gifted to the local health authority to provide hospice services.
There are 230 hospices in the UK providing end-of-life care to their communities at a cost of £1.4 billion per year.
The government contributes £350m towards these costs. More than £1bn is raised each year by the hospice charities through a variety of fundraising events to meet the shortfall in funding.
The Wisdom Hospice is the only adult hospice serving the residents of Medway and Swale, providing specialist palliative care to patients with life-limiting conditions.
