Cash crisis threatens nursing jobs

9:00am Saturday 16th September 2006

TERMINALLY ill people across Bucks could be denied care in their own homes due to a cash crisis at the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home charity.

The Tring-based charity provides free 24-hour nursing care and counselling to anyone with a terminal illness to help the patient live out their final days in the privacy and comfort of their own home.

But nurses could be under threat after the charity's directors announced a £200,000 shortfall in funding on Monday.

Rosalind Curtis lost her 85-year-old father Stanley Dennis to prostate cancer in April. With the help of the IRHH team she gave him the perfect death'.

Mrs Curtis, 56, of Beech Park, Walters Ash said: "It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I knew I didn't want him to go into hospital.

"My mother died there, afraid and alone in an unfamiliar place. Dad had the perfect death.

"He died at home with his family around him. His favourite classical music was playing throughout the house and the sun was shining."

Mrs Curtis has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness herself and said: "I couldn't have coped with Dad without the help of the Iain Rennie nurses and I am worried that one day they might not be there. We can't let that happen."

The shortfall has been put down to a combination of a downturn in legacy income and donations, a nine per cent increase in patient numbers this year and a low level of income from Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) compared to other hospices.

Rowena Dean, IRHH chief executive, said: "We are absolutely determined to continue caring for all the patients and families who need our help, particularly overnight and at weekends when we are often the only service available.

"However, the meagre amount of funding that the IRHH receives from the PCTs in exchange for providing a hugely-valued and cost-effective service for more than 800 patients across the Chilterns area every year makes it increasingly difficult to fund the service."

The charity receives 14 per cent of its funding from PCTs in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, compared to a national average of 29 per cent.

Richard Burton, spokesman for the Vale of Aylesbury Primary Care Trust, said: "The three PCTs across mid and south Buckinghamshire have and continue to support local hospices across the county, which provide a very important service to patients.

"However, as much as we would like to increase our funding, the three PCTs are currently under very difficult financial constraints and are not able to provide further support."

In response IRHH is launching an Emergency Appeal to raise vital funds and is calling on people to support it by making donations, organising fundraising events and using its shops High Wycombe, Princes Risborough, Beaconsfield, Amersham and Little Chalfont.

Mrs Dean said: "86 per cent of our income comes from our local communities, and we must now look again to all our supporters to do even more to help us through the tough times that lie ahead."

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