Queenscourt Hospice in Southport has been forced to reduce the amount of patients it can support in order to stave off closing down within the next two years.
The Town Lane based Hospice’s medical director Dr Clare Finnegan this week took a letter to Downing Street on behalf of a group of hospices, urging the government to provide £12 million to safeguard the future of the hospice sector.
Queenscourt Director of Nursing Louise Charnock said the hospice has been forced to downsize as if they do nothing, the hospice will be forced to close in 18 months.
She said: “It will mean that patients who are at home or in hospital who have complex distressing symptom management will have less opportunity to access that service.
“Patients who are in hospital who don’t want to die on a busy hospital ward or in an A&E department who have complex symptoms will have less opportunity to access a bed.
“It will have a huge impact on patients and their families but it will have a wider impact on the healthcare system.”
It said last year, just 24% of Queenscourt’s funding came from the NHS, with the hospice relying on short-term grants, fundraising and personal donations to meet the remaining cost of its services.
However, it claims it is operating on the deficit due to the rising costs of salaries, the impact of new tax initiatives such as employee National Insurance, the increase in energy bills and the fact that Government funding has failed to keep up with these rising costs.
Dr Clare Finnegan, Executive Medical Director, said: “Queenscourt has been operating with an annual deficit of approximately £2 million for the past two years, and we face a similar shortfall for 2026/27.
“We have been drawing on our reserves to ensure we can continue to sustain our current services whilst we have been liaising with the Integrated Care Boards to obtain further funding.
“However we have been advised that we will not receive this level of funding until 2029, and if we do not take measures to cut our costs, Queenscourt will be forced to close.”