A ‘LOOMING funding crisis’ is hanging above palliative care providers in the UK - putting organisations in a ‘perilous position’.

Wednesday, March 22, marked the day that St Mary’s Hospice’s Government funding ran out with no further help now until New Year’s Eve.

From now until then, the Ulverston hospice will need to independently fund millions of pounds to make the daily care for its patients possible.

Hospices across the UK receive different amounts of funding. This year St Mary’s has received 22 per cent of its funding from Government, trailing behind the UK average of 30 per cent.

St Mary’s Head of Communications Karl Connor said: “There is a looming funding crisis across palliative care in the UK. There aren’t enough clinical staff, and the rising cost of living has placed many organisations like ours in perilous positions.

“We’re really fortunate here in that we’ve got a very supportive community, and amazing teams running our fundraising and retail operations who manage, just about, to bring in the money we need to provide the high standard of care that people across South Lakes and Furness deserve.

“Reducing costs would mean not being able to help as many people as we do currently, and with demand for our services growing year-on-year, that isn’t something we want to contemplate, so we’re doubling down on increasing income.”

From now on the hospice is choosing to refer to March 22 as ‘St Mary’s Day’ to mark the day that the Government funding ran out.

The team is working with partners, including Hospice UK, to lobby the Government and, push that date back later into spring or even early summer.

Hospice UK’s Chief Executive Toby Porter visited the hospice to mark the first ‘St Mary’s Day’.

Mr Porter said: “I’ve been really inspired by the work that they do here at St Mary’s. It’s a fantastic local community here and I’m grateful that they love and support St Mary’s, but the 22nd of March is far, far too early in the year for their central funding to run out. The government should do more, and we’re pressing them, on behalf of St Mary’s and all the other hospices in our network, to step up and do more.”

If you would like to contribute to help St Mary’s Hospice to continue their work, visit: www.stmaryshospice.org.uk